Variable size and variable orientation touch screen display

ABSTRACT

A variable touch screen includes a first touch screen display and a second touch screen display, where the first touch screen display includes a first plurality of electrodes and first touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the first plurality of electrodes, where the first touch screen circuity includes a plurality of drive-sense circuits that, when enabled, are configured to drive a plurality of sensor signals onto the plurality of electrodes, sense first effects that the plurality of electrodes have on the plurality of sensor signals and produce a first plurality of sensed signals based on the first effects. The second touch screen display has a first edge of the first touch screen display that, when oriented such that the first edge is aligned adjacent to a first edge of the second touch screen display, increases a size of the variable touch screen.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS

The present U.S. Utility Pat. Application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of co-pending U.S. Utility Application No. 17/446,148, entitled “TOUCH SCREEN SENSOR CONTROLLER WITH DRIVE SENSE CIRCUIT”, filed Aug. 26, 2021, scheduled to issue as U.S. Pat. No. 11,662,847 on May 30, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. Utility Application No. 17/248,473, entitled “LARGE TOUCH SCREEN DISPLAY WITH INTEGRATED ELECTRODES,” filed Jan. 26, 2021, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,586,309 on Feb. 21, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. Utility Application No. 16/132,131, entitled “LARGE TOUCH SCREEN DISPLAY WITH INTEGRATED ELECTRODES,” filed Sep. 14, 2018, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,908,718 on Feb. 02, 2021, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Application for all purposes.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to data communication systems and more particularly to sensed data collection and/or communication.

Description of Related Art

Sensors are used in a wide variety of applications ranging from in-home automation, to industrial systems, to health care, to transportation, and so on. For example, sensors are placed in bodies, automobiles, airplanes, boats, ships, trucks, motorcycles, cell phones, televisions, touch-screens, industrial plants, appliances, motors, checkout counters, etc. for the variety of applications.

In general, a sensor converts a physical quantity into an electrical or optical signal. For example, a sensor converts a physical phenomenon, such as a biological condition, a chemical condition, an electric condition, an electromagnetic condition, a temperature, a magnetic condition, mechanical motion (position, velocity, acceleration, force, pressure), an optical condition, and/or a radioactivity condition, into an electrical signal.

A sensor includes a transducer, which functions to convert one form of energy (e.g., force) into another form of energy (e.g., electrical signal). There are a variety of transducers to support the various applications of sensors. For example, a transducer is capacitor, a piezoelectric transducer, a piezoresistive transducer, a thermal transducer, a thermal-couple, a photoconductive transducer such as a photoresistor, a photodiode, and/or phototransistor.

A sensor circuit is coupled to a sensor to provide the sensor with power and to receive the signal representing the physical phenomenon from the sensor. The sensor circuit includes at least three electrical connections to the sensor: one for a power supply; another for a common voltage reference (e.g., ground); and a third for receiving the signal representing the physical phenomenon. The signal representing the physical phenomenon will vary from the power supply voltage to ground as the physical phenomenon changes from one extreme to another (for the range of sensing the physical phenomenon).

The sensor circuits provide the received sensor signals to one or more computing devices for processing. A computing device is known to communicate data, process data, and/or store data. The computing device may be a cellular phone, a laptop, a tablet, a personal computer (PC), a work station, a video game device, a server, and/or a data center that support millions of web searches, stock trades, or on-line purchases every hour.

The computing device processes the sensor signals for a variety of applications. For example, the computing device processes sensor signals to determine temperatures of a variety of items in a refrigerated truck during transit. As another example, the computing device processes the sensor signals to determine a touch on a touch screen. As yet another example, the computing device processes the sensor signals to determine various data points in a production line of a product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a communication system in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a computing device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method for sensing a touch on a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a drive sense circuit in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a drive sense circuit in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9A is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of a touch screen display with in-cell touch sensors in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9B is a schematic block diagram of an example of a transparent electrode layer with thin film transistors in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9C is a schematic block diagram of an example of a pixel with three sub-pixels in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9D is a schematic block diagram of another example of a pixel with three sub-pixels in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9E is a schematic block diagram of an example of sub-pixel electrodes coupled together to form row electrodes of a touch screen sensor in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9F is a schematic block diagram of an example of sub-pixel electrodes coupled together to form column electrodes of a touch screen sensor in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9G is a schematic block diagram of an example of sub-pixel electrodes coupled together to form row electrodes and column electrodes of a touch screen sensor in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9H is a schematic block diagram of an example of a segmented common ground plane forming row electrodes and column electrodes of a touch screen sensor in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9I is a schematic block diagram of another example of sub-pixel electrodes coupled together to form row and column electrodes of a touch screen sensor in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9J is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of a touch screen display with on-cell touch sensors in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10A is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of self-capacitance with no-touch on a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10B is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of self-capacitance with a touch on a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of self-capacitance and mutual capacitance with no-touch on a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of self-capacitance and mutual capacitance with a touch on a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an example graph that plots condition verses capacitance for an electrode of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an example graph that plots impedance verses frequency for an electrode of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a time domain example graph that plots magnitude verses time for an analog reference signal in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a frequency domain example graph that plots magnitude verses frequency for an analog reference signal in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit coupled to a first electrode and a second drive sense circuit coupled to a second electrode without a touch proximal to the electrodes in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit coupled to a first electrode and a second drive sense circuit coupled to a second electrode with a finger touch proximal to the electrodes in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit coupled to a first electrode and a second drive sense circuit coupled to a second electrode with a pen touch proximal to the electrodes in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a first drive sense circuit coupled to a first electrode and a second drive sense circuit coupled to a second electrode with a pen touch proximal to the electrodes in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram of a touchless example of a few drive sense circuits and a portion of the touch screen processing module of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a schematic block diagram of a finger touch example of a few drive sense circuits and a portion of the touch screen processing module of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a schematic block diagram of a pen touch example of a few drive sense circuits and a portion of the touch screen processing module of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing device having touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a computing device having touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a computing device having touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a first drive sense circuit coupled to a first electrode and a second drive sense circuit coupled to a second electrode without a touch proximal to the electrodes in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 29 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a computing device generating a capacitive image of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 30 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a computing device generating a capacitive image of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 31 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method for generating a capacitive image of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 32 is a schematic block diagram of an example of generating capacitive images over a time period in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 33 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method for identifying desired and undesired touches using a capacitive image in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 34 is a schematic block diagram of an example of using capacitive images to identify desired and undesired touches in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 35 is a schematic block diagram of another example of using capacitive images to identify desired and undesired touches in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 36 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a near bezel-less touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 37 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a near bezel-less touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 38 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of touch screen circuitry of a near bezel-less touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 39 is a schematic block diagram of an example of frequencies for the various analog reference signals for the drive-sense circuits in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 40 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a near bezel-less touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 41 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of multiple near bezel-less touch screen displays in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 42 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of processing modules for the multiple near bezel-less touch screen displays of FIG. 41 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 43 is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of a touch screen display having a thick protective transparent layer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 44 is a cross section schematic block diagram of another example of a touch screen display having a thick protective transparent layer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 45 is a schematic block diagram of an electrical equivalent circuit of two drive sense circuits coupled to two electrodes without a finger touch in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 46 is a schematic block diagram of an electrical equivalent circuit of two drive sense circuits coupled to two electrodes with a finger touch in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 47 is a schematic block diagram of an electrical equivalent circuit of a drive sense circuit coupled to an electrode without a finger touch in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 48 is an example graph that plots finger capacitance verses protective layer thickness of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 49 is an example graph that plots mutual capacitance verses protective layer thickness and drive voltage verses protective layer thickness of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 50 is an example graph that plots self-capacitance verses protective layer thickness and drive voltage verses protective layer thickness of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 51 is a cross section schematic block diagram of another example of a touch screen display having a thick protective transparent layer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 52 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a large touch screen display with an on-screen control panel in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 53 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a large touch screen display with an on-screen control panel in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 54 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a plurality of electrodes creating a plurality of touch sense cells in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 55 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a plurality of electrodes creating a display area and a control panel area in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 56 is a schematic block diagram of an example of activating or deactivating an on-screen control panel on a large touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 57 is a logic diagram of an example of utilizing an on-screen control panel of a large touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 58 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a scalable touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 59 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a sense-processing circuit of a scalable touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 60 is a schematic block diagram of an example of frequency dividing for reference signals for drive-sense circuits of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 61 is a schematic block diagram of an example of bandpass filtering for the frequency dividing of the reference signals for drive-sense circuits of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 62 is a schematic block diagram of another example of bandpass filtering for the frequency dividing of the reference signals for drive-sense circuits of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 63 is a schematic block diagram of an example of frequency and time dividing for reference signals for drive-sense circuits of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention; and

FIGS. 64A and 64B are a schematic block diagram of another example of frequency and time dividing for reference signals for drive-sense circuits of a touch screen display in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a communication system 10 that includes a plurality of computing. devices 12-10, one or more servers 22, one or more databases 24, one or more networks 26, a plurality of drive-sense circuits 28, a plurality of sensors 30, and a plurality of actuators 32. Computing devices 14 include a touch screen 16 with sensors and drive-sensor circuits and computing devices 18 include a touch & tactic screen 20 that includes sensors, actuators, and drive-sense circuits.

A sensor 30 functions to convert a physical input into an electrical output and/or an optical output. The physical input of a sensor may be one of a variety of physical input conditions. For example, the physical condition includes one or more of, but is not limited to, acoustic waves (e.g., amplitude, phase, polarization, spectrum, and/or wave velocity); a biological and/or chemical condition (e.g., fluid concentration, level, composition, etc.); an electric condition (e.g., charge, voltage, current, conductivity, permittivity, eclectic field, which includes amplitude, phase, and/or polarization); a magnetic condition (e.g., flux, permeability, magnetic field, which amplitude, phase, and/or polarization); an optical condition (e.g., refractive index, reflectivity, absorption, etc.); a thermal condition (e.g., temperature, flux, specific heat, thermal conductivity, etc.); and a mechanical condition (e.g., position, velocity, acceleration, force, strain, stress, pressure, torque, etc.). For example, piezoelectric sensor converts force or pressure into an eclectic signal. As another example, a microphone converts audible acoustic waves into electrical signals.

There are a variety of types of sensors to sense the various types of physical conditions. Sensor types include, but are not limited to, capacitor sensors, inductive sensors, accelerometers, piezoelectric sensors, light sensors, magnetic field sensors, ultrasonic sensors, temperature sensors, infrared (IR) sensors, touch sensors, proximity sensors, pressure sensors, level sensors, smoke sensors, and gas sensors. In many ways, sensors function as the interface between the physical world and the digital world by converting real world conditions into digital signals that are then processed by computing devices for a vast number of applications including, but not limited to, medical applications, production automation applications, home environment control, public safety, and so on.

The various types of sensors have a variety of sensor characteristics that are factors in providing power to the sensors, receiving signals from the sensors, and/or interpreting the signals from the sensors. The sensor characteristics include resistance, reactance, power requirements, sensitivity, range, stability, repeatability, linearity, error, response time, and/or frequency response. For example, the resistance, reactance, and/or power requirements are factors in determining drive circuit requirements. As another example, sensitivity, stability, and/or linear are factors for interpreting the measure of the physical condition based on the received electrical and/or optical signal (e.g., measure of temperature, pressure, etc.).

An actuator 32 converts an electrical input into a physical output. The physical output of an actuator may be one of a variety of physical output conditions. For example, the physical output condition includes one or more of, but is not limited to, acoustic waves (e.g., amplitude, phase, polarization, spectrum, and/or wave velocity); a magnetic condition (e.g., flux, permeability, magnetic field, which amplitude, phase, and/or polarization); a thermal condition (e.g., temperature, flux, specific heat, thermal conductivity, etc.); and a mechanical condition (e.g., position, velocity, acceleration, force, strain, stress, pressure, torque, etc.). As an example, a piezoelectric actuator converts voltage into force or pressure. As another example, a speaker converts electrical signals into audible acoustic waves.

An actuator 32 may be one of a variety of actuators. For example, an actuator 32 is one of a comb drive, a digital micro-mirror device, an electric motor, an electroactive polymer, a hydraulic cylinder, a piezoelectric actuator, a pneumatic actuator, a screw jack, a servomechanism, a solenoid, a stepper motor, a shape-memory allow, a thermal bimorph, and a hydraulic actuator.

The various types of actuators have a variety of actuators characteristics that are factors in providing power to the actuator and sending signals to the actuators for desired performance. The actuator characteristics include resistance, reactance, power requirements, sensitivity, range, stability, repeatability, linearity, error, response time, and/or frequency response. For example, the resistance, reactance, and power requirements are factors in determining drive circuit requirements. As another example, sensitivity, stability, and/or linear are factors for generating the signaling to send to the actuator to obtain the desired physical output condition.

The computing devices 12, 14, and 18 may each be a portable computing device and/or a fixed computing device. A portable computing device may be a social networking device, a gaming device, a cell phone, a smart phone, a digital assistant, a digital music player, a digital video player, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a tablet, a video game controller, and/or any other portable device that includes a computing core. A fixed computing device may be a computer (PC), a computer server, a cable set-top box, a satellite receiver, a television set, a printer, a fax machine, home entertainment equipment, a video game console, and/or any type of home or office computing equipment. The computing devices 12, 14, and 18 will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more of FIGS. 2-4 .

A server 22 is a special type of computing device that is optimized for processing large amounts of data requests in parallel. A server 22 includes similar components to that of the computing devices 12, 14, and/or 18 with more robust processing modules, more main memory, and/or more hard drive memory (e.g., solid state, hard drives, etc.). Further, a server 22 is typically accessed remotely; as such it does not generally include user input devices and/or user output devices. In addition, a server may be a standalone separate computing device and/or may be a cloud computing device.

A database 24 is a special type of computing device that is optimized for large scale data storage and retrieval. A database 24 includes similar components to that of the computing devices 12, 14, and/or 18 with more hard drive memory (e.g., solid state, hard drives, etc.) and potentially with more processing modules and/or main memory. Further, a database 24 is typically accessed remotely; as such it does not generally include user input devices and/or user output devices. In addition, a database 24 may be a standalone separate computing device and/or may be a cloud computing device.

The network 26 includes one more local area networks (LAN) and/or one or more wide area networks WAN), which may be a public network and/or a private network. A LAN may be a wireless-LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi access point, Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.) and/or a wired network (e.g., Firewire, Ethernet, etc.). A WAN may be a wired and/or wireless WAN. For example, a LAN may be a personal home or business’s wireless network and a WAN is the Internet, cellular telephone infrastructure, and/or satellite communication infrastructure.

In an example of operation, computing device 12-1 communicates with a plurality of drive-sense circuits 28, which, in turn, communicate with a plurality of sensors 30. The sensors 30 and/or the drive-sense circuits 28 are within the computing device 12-1 and/or external to it. For example, the sensors 30 may be external to the computing device 12-1 and the drive-sense circuits are within the computing device 12-1. As another example, both the sensors 30 and the drive-sense circuits 28 are external to the computing device 12-1. When the drive-sense circuits 28 are external to the computing device, they are coupled to the computing device 12-1 via wired and/or wireless communication links as will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more of FIGS. 5A - 5C.

The computing device 12-1 communicates with the drive-sense circuits 28 to; (a) turn them on, (b) obtain data from the sensors (individually and/or collectively), (c) instruct the drive sense circuit on how to communicate the sensed data to the computing device 12-1, (d) provide signaling attributes (e.g., DC level, AC level, frequency, power level, regulated current signal, regulated voltage signal, regulation of an impedance, frequency patterns for various sensors, different frequencies for different sensing applications, etc.) to use with the sensors, and/or (e) provide other commands and/or instructions.

As a specific example, the sensors 30 are distributed along a pipeline to measure flow rate and/or pressure within a section of the pipeline. The drive-sense circuits 28 have their own power source (e.g., battery, power supply, etc.) and are proximally located to their respective sensors 30. At desired time intervals (milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, etc.), the drive-sense circuits 28 provide a regulated source signal or a power signal to the sensors 30. An electrical characteristic of the sensor 30 affects the regulated source signal or power signal, which is reflective of the condition (e.g., the flow rate and/or the pressure) that sensor is sensing.

The drive-sense circuits 28 detect the effects on the regulated source signal or power signals as a result of the electrical characteristics of the sensors. The drive-sense circuits 28 then generate signals representative of change to the regulated source signal or power signal based on the detected effects on the power signals. The changes to the regulated source signals or power signals are representative of the conditions being sensed by the sensors 30.

The drive-sense circuits 28 provide the representative signals of the conditions to the computing device 12-1. A representative signal may be an analog signal or a digital signal. In either case, the computing device 12-1 interprets the representative signals to determine the pressure and/or flow rate at each sensor location along the pipeline. The computing device may then provide this information to the server 22, the database 24, and/or to another computing device for storing and/or further processing.

As another example of operation, computing device 12-2 is coupled to a drive-sense circuit 28, which is, in turn, coupled to a senor 30. The sensor 30 and/or the drive-sense circuit 28 may be internal and/or external to the computing device 12-2. In this example, the sensor 30 is sensing a condition that is particular to the computing device 12-2. For example, the sensor 30 may be a temperature sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ambient noise sensor, etc. As described above, when instructed by the computing device 12-2 (which may be a default setting for continuous sensing or at regular intervals), the drive-sense circuit 28 provides the regulated source signal or power signal to the sensor 30 and detects an effect to the regulated source signal or power signal based on an electrical characteristic of the sensor. The drive-sense circuit generates a representative signal of the affect and sends it to the computing device 12-2.

In another example of operation, computing device 12-3 is coupled to a plurality of drive-sense circuits 28 that are coupled to a plurality of sensors 30 and is coupled to a plurality of drive-sense circuits 28 that are coupled to a plurality of actuators 32. The generally functionality of the drive-sense circuits 28 coupled to the sensors 30 in accordance with the above description.

Since an actuator 32 is essentially an inverse of a sensor in that an actuator converts an electrical signal into a physical condition, while a sensor converts a physical condition into an electrical signal, the drive-sense circuits 28 can be used to power actuators 32. Thus, in this example, the computing device 12-3 provides actuation signals to the drive-sense circuits 28 for the actuators 32. The drive-sense circuits modulate the actuation signals on to power signals or regulated control signals, which are provided to the actuators 32. The actuators 32 are powered from the power signals or regulated control signals and produce the desired physical condition from the modulated actuation signals.

As another example of operation, computing device 12-x is coupled to a drive-sense circuit 28 that is coupled to a sensor 30 and is coupled to a drive-sense circuit 28 that is coupled to an actuator 32. In this example, the sensor 30 and the actuator 32 are for use by the computing device 12-x. For example, the sensor 30 may be a piezoelectric microphone and the actuator 32 may be a piezoelectric speaker.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing device 12 (e.g., any one of 12-1 through 12-x). The computing device 12 includes a touch screen 16, a core control module 40, one or more processing modules 42, one or more main memories 44, cache memory 46, a video graphics processing module 48, a display 50, an Input-Output (I/O) peripheral control module 52, one or more input interface modules 56, one or more output interface modules 58, one or more network interface modules 60, and one or more memory interface modules 62. A processing module 42 is described in greater detail at the end of the detailed description of the invention section and, in an alternative embodiment, has a direction connection to the main memory 44. In an alternate embodiment, the core control module 40 and the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52 are one module, such as a chipset, a quick path interconnect (QPI), and/or an ultra-path interconnect (UPI).

The touch screen 16 includes a touch screen display 80, a plurality of sensors 30, a plurality of drive-sense circuits (DSC), and a touch screen processing module 82. In general, the sensors (e.g., electrodes, capacitor sensing cells, capacitor sensors, inductive sensor, etc.) detect a proximal touch of the screen. For example, when one or more fingers touches the screen, capacitance of sensors proximal to the touch(es) are affected (e.g., impedance changes). The drive-sense circuits (DSC) coupled to the affected sensors detect the change and provide a representation of the change to the touch screen processing module 82, which may be a separate processing module or integrated into the processing module 42.

The touch screen processing module 82 processes the representative signals from the drive-sense circuits (DSC) to determine the location of the touch(es). This information is inputted to the processing module 42 for processing as an input. For example, a touch represents a selection of a button on screen, a scroll function, a zoom in-out function, etc.

Each of the main memories 44 includes one or more Random Access Memory (RAM) integrated circuits, or chips. For example, a main memory 44 includes four DDR4 (4^(th) generation of double data rate) RAM chips, each running at a rate of 2,400 MHz. In general, the main memory 44 stores data and operational instructions most relevant for the processing module 42. For example, the core control module 40 coordinates the transfer of data and/or operational instructions from the main memory 44 and the memory 64 - 66. The data and/or operational instructions retrieve from memory 64 - 66 are the data and/or operational instructions requested by the processing module or will most likely be needed by the processing module. When the processing module is done with the data and/or operational instructions in main memory, the core control module 40 coordinates sending updated data to the memory 64 - 66 for storage.

The memory 64 - 66 includes one or more hard drives, one or more solid state memory chips, and/or one or more other large capacity storage devices that, in comparison to cache memory and main memory devices, is/are relatively inexpensive with respect to cost per amount of data stored. The memory 64 - 66 is coupled to the core control module 40 via the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52 and via one or more memory interface modules 62. In an embodiment, the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52 includes one or more Peripheral Component Interface (PCI) buses to which peripheral components connect to the core control module 40. A memory interface module 62 includes a software driver and a hardware connector for coupling a memory device to the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52. For example, a memory interface 62 is in accordance with a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) port.

The core control module 40 coordinates data communications between the processing module(s) 42 and the network(s) 26 via the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52, the network interface module(s) 60, and a network card 68 or 70. A network card 68 or 70 includes a wireless communication unit or a wired communication unit. A wireless communication unit includes a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication device, a cellular communication device, a Bluetooth device, and/or a ZigBee communication device. A wired communication unit includes a Gigabit LAN connection, a Firewire connection, and/or a proprietary computer wired connection. A network interface module 60 includes a software driver and a hardware connector for coupling the network card to the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52. For example, the network interface module 60 is in accordance with one or more versions of IEEE 802.11, cellular telephone protocols, 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN protocols, etc.

The core control module 40 coordinates data communications between the processing module(s) 42 and input device(s) 72 via the input interface module(s) 56 and the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52. An input device 72 includes a keypad, a keyboard, control switches, a touchpad, a microphone, a camera, etc. An input interface module 56 includes a software driver and a hardware connector for coupling an input device to the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52. In an embodiment, an input interface module 56 is in accordance with one or more Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocols.

The core control module 40 coordinates data communications between the processing module(s) 42 and output device(s) 74 via the output interface module(s) 58 and the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52. An output device 74 includes a speaker, etc. An output interface module 58 includes a software driver and a hardware connector for coupling an output device to the I/O and/or peripheral control module 52. In an embodiment, an output interface module 56 is in accordance with one or more audio codec protocols.

The processing module 42 communicates directly with a video graphics processing module 48 to display data on the display 50. The display 50 includes an LED (light emitting diode) display, an LCD (liquid crystal display), and/or other type of display technology. The display has a resolution, an aspect ratio, and other features that affect the quality of the display. The video graphics processing module 48 receives data from the processing module 42, processes the data to produce rendered data in accordance with the characteristics of the display, and provides the rendered data to the display 50.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a computing device 18 that includes a core control module 40, one or more processing modules 42, one or more main memories 44, cache memory 46, a video graphics processing module 48, a touch and tactile screen 20, an Input-Output (I/O) peripheral control module 52, one or more input interface modules 56, one or more output interface modules 58, one or more network interface modules 60, and one or more memory interface modules 62. The touch and tactile screen 20 includes a touch and tactile screen display 90, a plurality of sensors 30, a plurality of actuators 32, a plurality of drive-sense circuits (DSC), a touch screen processing module 82, and a tactile screen processing module 92.

Computing device 18 operates similarly to computing device 14 of FIG. 2 with the addition of a tactile aspect to the screen 20 as an output device. The tactile portion of the screen 20 includes the plurality of actuators (e.g., piezoelectric transducers to create vibrations, solenoids to create movement, etc.) to provide a tactile feel to the screen 20. To do so, the processing module creates tactile data, which is provided to the appropriate drive-sense circuits (DSC) via the tactile screen processing module 92, which may be a stand-alone processing module or integrated into processing module 42. The drive-sense circuits (DSC) convert the tactile data into drive-actuate signals and provide them to the appropriate actuators to create the desired tactile feel on the screen 20.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a touch screen display 80 that includes a plurality of drive-sense circuits (DSC), a touch screen processing module 82, a display 83, and a plurality of electrodes 85. The touch screen display 80 is coupled to a processing module 42, a video graphics processing module 48, and a display interface 93, which are components of a computing device (e.g., 14-18), an interactive display, or other device that includes a touch screen display. An interactive display functions to provide users with an interactive experience (e.g., touch the screen to obtain information, be entertained, etc.). For example, a store provides interactive displays for customers to find certain products, to obtain coupons, to enter contests, etc.

There are a variety of other devices that include a touch screen display. For example, a vending machine includes a touch screen display to select and/or pay for an item. As another example of a device having a touch screen display is an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). As yet another example, an automobile includes a touch screen display for entertainment media control, navigation, climate control, etc.

The touch screen display 80 includes a large display 83 that has a resolution equal to or greater than full high-definition (HD), an aspect ratio of a set of aspect ratios, and a screen size equal to or greater than thirty-two inches. The following table lists various combinations of resolution, aspect ratio, and screen size for the display 83, but it’s not an exhaustive list.

Resolution Width (lines) Height (lines) pixel aspect ratio screen aspect ratio screen size (inches) HD (high definition) 1280 720 1:1 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 Full HD 1920 1080 1:1 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 HD 960 720 4:3 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 HD 1440 1080 4:3 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 HD 1280 1080 3:2 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 QHD (quad HD) 2560 1440 1:1 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 UHD (Ultra HD) or 4K 3840 2160 1:1 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 8K 7680 4320 1:1 16:9 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80 HD and above 1280->=7680 720->=4320 1:1, 2:3, etc. 2:3 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, &/or >80

The display 83 is one of a variety of types of displays that is operable to render frames of data into visible images. For example, the display is one or more of: a light emitting diode (LED) display, an electroluminescent display (ELD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystal display (LCD), an LCD high performance addressing (HPA) display, an LCD thin film transistor (TFT) display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, a digital light processing (DLP) display, a surface conductive electron emitter (SED) display, a field emission display (FED), a laser TV display, a carbon nanotubes display, a quantum dot display, an interferometric modulator display (IMOD), and a digital microshutter display (DMS). The display is active in a full display mode or a multiplexed display mode (i.e., only part of the display is active at a time).

The display 83 further includes integrated electrodes 85 that provide the sensors for the touch sense part of the touch screen display. The electrodes 85 are distributed throughout the display area or where touch screen functionality is desired. For example, a first group of the electrodes are arranged in rows and a second group of electrodes are arranged in columns. As will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more of FIGS. 9 - 12 , the row electrodes are separated from the column electrodes by a dielectric material.

The electrodes 85 are comprised of a transparent conductive material and are in-cell or on-cell with respect to layers of the display. For example, a conductive trace is placed in-cell or on-cell of a layer of the touch screen display. The transparent conductive material, which is substantially transparent and has negligible effect on video quality of the display with respect to the human eye. For instance, an electrode is constructed from one or more of: Indium Tin Oxide, Graphene, Carbon Nanotubes, Thin Metal Films, Silver Nanowires Hybrid Materials, Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide (AZO), Amorphous Indium-Zinc Oxide, Gallium-doped Zinc Oxide (GZO), and poly polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT).

In an example of operation, the processing module 42 is executing an operating system application 89 and one or more user applications 91. The user applications 91 includes, but is not limited to, a video playback application, a spreadsheet application, a word processing application, a computer aided drawing application, a photo display application, an image processing application, a database application, etc. While executing an application 91, the processing module generates data for display (e.g., video data, image data, text data, etc.). The processing module 42 sends the data to the video graphics processing module 48, which converts the data into frames of video 87.

The video graphics processing module 48 sends the frames of video 87 (e.g., frames of a video file, refresh rate for a word processing document, a series of images, etc.) to the display interface 93. The display interface 93 provides the frames of video to the display 83, which renders the frames of video into visible images.

While the display 83 is rendering the frames of video into visible images, the drive-sense circuits (DSC) provide sensor signals to the electrodes 85. When the screen is touched, capacitance of the electrodes 85 proximal to the touch (i.e., directly or close by) is changed. The DSCs detect the capacitance change for effected electrodes and provide the detected change to the touch screen processing module 82.

The touch screen processing module 82 processes the capacitance change of the effected electrodes to determine one or more specific locations of touch and provides this information to the processing module 42. Processing module 42 processes the one or more specific locations of touch to determine if an operation of the application is to be altered. For example, the touch is indicative of a pause command, a fast forward command, a reverse command, an increase volume command, a decrease volume command, a stop command, a select command, a delete command, etc.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a touch screen display 80 that includes a plurality of drive-sense circuits (DSC), the processing module 42, a display 83, and a plurality of electrodes 85. The processing module 42 is executing an operating system 89 and one or more user applications 91 to produce frames of data 87. The processing module 42 provides the frames of data 87 to the display interface 93. The touch screen display 80 operates similarly to the touch screen display 80 of FIG. 4 with the above noted differences.

FIG. 6 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method for sensing a touch on a touch screen display that is executed by one or more processing modules (e.g., 42, 82, and/or 48 of the previous figures). The method begins at step 100 where the processing module generate a control signal (e.g., power enable, operation enable, etc.) to enable a drive-sense circuit to monitor the sensor signal on the electrode. The processing module generates additional control signals to enable other drive-sense circuits to monitor their respective sensor signals. In an example, the processing module enables all of the drive-sense circuits for continuous sensing for touches of the screen. In another example, the processing module enables a first group of drive-sense circuits coupled to a first group of row electrodes and enables a second group of drive-sense circuits coupled to a second group of column electrodes.

The method continues at step 102 where the processing module receives a representation of the impedance on the electrode from a drive-sense circuit. In general, the drive-sense circuit provides a drive signal to the electrode. The impedance of the electrode affects the drive signal. The effect on the drive signal is interpreted by the drive-sense circuit to produce the representation of the impedance of the electrode. The processing module does this with each activated drive-sense circuit in serial, in parallel, or in a serial-parallel manner.

The method continues at step 104 where the processing module interprets the representation of the impedance on the electrode to detect a change in the impedance of the electrode. A change in the impedance is indicative of a touch. For example, an increase in self-capacitance (e.g., the capacitance of the electrode with respect to a reference (e.g., ground, etc.)) is indicative of a touch on the electrode. As another example, a decrease in mutual capacitance (e.g., the capacitance between a row electrode and a column electrode) is also indicative of a touch near the electrodes. The processing module does this for each representation of the impedance of the electrode it receives. Note that the representation of the impedance is a digital value, an analog signal, an impedance value, and/or any other analog or digital way of representing a sensor’s impedance.

The method continues at step 106 where the processing module interprets the change in the impedance to indicate a touch of the touch screen display in an area corresponding to the electrode. For each change in impedance detected, the processing module indicates a touch. Further processing may be done to determine if the touch is a desired touch or an undesired touch. Such further processing will be discussed in greater detail with reference to one or more of FIGS. 33-35 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a drive sense circuit 28 that includes a first conversion circuit 110 and a second conversion circuit 112. The first conversion circuit 110 converts a sensor signal 116 into a sensed signal 120. The second conversion circuit 112 generates the drive signal component 114 from the sensed signal 112. As an example, the first conversion circuit 110 functions to keep the sensor signal 116 substantially constant (e.g., substantially matching a reference signal) by creating the sensed signal 120 to correspond to changes in a receive signal component 118 of the sensor signal. The second conversion circuit 112 functions to generate a drive signal component 114 of the sensor signal based on the sensed signal 120 to substantially compensate for changes in the receive signal component 118 such that the sensor signal 116 remains substantially constant.

In an example, the drive signal 116 is provided to the electrode 85 as a regulated current signal. The regulated current (I) signal in combination with the impedance (Z) of the electrode creates an electrode voltage (V), where V = I*Z. As the impedance (Z) of electrode changes, the regulated current (I) signal is adjusted to keep the electrode voltage (V) substantially unchanged. To regulate the current signal, the first conversion circuit 110 adjusts the sensed signal 120 based on the receive signal component 118, which is indicative of the impedance of the electrode and change thereof. The second conversion circuit 112 adjusts the regulated current based on the changes to the sensed signal 120.

As another example, the drive signal 116 is provided to the electrode 85 as a regulated voltage signal. The regulated voltage (V) signal in combination with the impedance (Z) of the electrode creates an electrode current (I), where I = V/Z. As the impedance (Z) of electrode changes, the regulated voltage (V) signal is adjusted to keep the electrode current (I) substantially unchanged. To regulate the voltage signal, the first conversion circuit 110 adjusts the sensed signal 120 based on the receive signal component 118, which is indicative of the impedance of the electrode and change thereof. The second conversion circuit 112 adjusts the regulated voltage based on the changes to the sensed signal 120.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a drive sense circuit 28 that includes a first conversion circuit 110 and a second conversion circuit 112. The first conversion circuit 110 includes a comparator (comp) and an analog to digital converter 130. The second conversion circuit 112 includes a digital to analog converter 132, a signal source circuit 133, and a driver.

In an example of operation, the comparator compares the sensor signal 116 to an analog reference signal 122 to produce an analog comparison signal 124. The analog reference signal 124 includes a DC component and an oscillating component. As such, the sensor signal 116 will have a substantially matching DC component and oscillating component. An example of an analog reference signal 122 will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 15 .

The analog to digital converter 130 converts the analog comparison signal 124 into the sensed signal 120. The analog to digital converter (ADC) 130 may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the (ADC) 130 is one of: a flash ADC, a successive approximation ADC, a ramp-compare ADC, a Wilkinson ADC, an integrating ADC, a delta encoded ADC, and/or a sigma-delta ADC. The digital to analog converter (DAC) 214 may be a sigma-delta DAC, a pulse width modulator DAC, a binary weighted DAC, a successive approximation DAC, and/or a thermometer-coded DAC.

The digital to analog converter (DAC) 132 converts the sensed signal 120 into an analog feedback signal 126. The signal source circuit 133 (e.g., a dependent current source, a linear regulator, a DC-DC power supply, etc.) generates a regulated source signal 135 (e.g., a regulated current signal or a regulated voltage signal) based on the analog feedback signal 126. The driver increases power of the regulated source signal 135 to produce the drive signal component 114.

FIG. 9A is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of a touch screen display 83 with in-cell touch sensors, which includes lighting layers 77 and display with integrated touch sensing layers 79. The lighting layers 77 include a light distributing layer 87, a light guide layer 85, a prism film layer 83, and a defusing film layer 81. The display with integrated touch sensing layers 79 include a rear polarizing film layer 105, a glass layer 103, a rear transparent electrode layer with thin film transistors 101 (which may be two or more separate layers), a liquid crystal layer (e.g., a rubber polymer layer with spacers) 99, a front electrode layer with thin film transistors 97, a color mask layer 95, a glass layer 93, and a front polarizing film layer 91. Note that one or more protective layers may be applied over the polarizing film layer 91.

In an example of operation, a row of LEDs (light emitted diodes) projects light into the light distributing player 87, which projects the light towards the light guide 85. The light guide includes a plurality of holes that let’s some light components pass at differing angles. The prism film layer 83 increases perpendicularity of the light components, which are then defused by the defusing film layer 81 to provide a substantially even back lighting for the display with integrated touch sense layers 79.

The two polarizing film layers 105 and 91 are orientated to block the light (i.e., provide black light). The front and rear electrode layers 97 and 101 provide an electric field at a sub-pixel level to orientate liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer 99 to twist the light. When the electric field is off, or is very low, the liquid crystals are orientated in a first manner (e.g., end-to-end) that does not twist the light, thus, for the sub-pixel, the two polarizing film layers 105 and 91 are blocking the light. As the electric field is increased, the orientation of the liquid crystals change such that the two polarizing film layers 105 and 91 pass the light (e.g., white light). When the liquid crystals are in a second orientation (e.g., side by side), intensity of the light is at its highest point.

The color mask layer 95 includes three sub-pixel color masks (red, green, and blue) for each pixel of the display, which includes a plurality of pixels (e.g., 1440 x 1080). As the electric field produced by electrodes change the orientations of the liquid crystals at the sub-pixel level, the light is twisted to produce varying sub-pixel brightness. The sub-pixel light passes through its corresponding sub-pixel color mask to produce a color component for the pixel. The varying brightness of the three sub-pixel colors (red, green, and blue), collectively produce a single color to the human eye. For example, a blue shirt has a 12% red component, a 20% green component, and 55% blue component.

The in-cell touch sense functionality uses the existing layers of the display layers 79 to provide capacitance-based sensors. For instance, one or more of the transparent front and rear electrode layers 97 and 101 are used to provide row electrodes and column electrodes. Various examples of creating row and column electrodes from one or more of the transparent front and rear electrode layers 97 and 101 is discussed in some of the subsequent figures.

FIG. 9B is a schematic block diagram of an example of a transparent electrode layer 97 and/or 101 with thin film transistors (TFT). Sub-pixel electrodes are formed on the transparent electrode layer and each sub-pixel electrode is coupled to a thin film transistor (TFT). Three sub-pixels (R-red, G-green, and B-blue) form a pixel. The gates of the TFTs associated with a row of sub-electrodes are coupled to a common gate line. In this example, each of the four rows has its own gate line. The drains (or sources) of the TFTs associated with a column of sub-electrodes are coupled to a common R, B, or G data line. The sources (or drains) of the TFTs are coupled to its corresponding sub-electrode.

In an example of operation, one gate line is activated at a time and RGB data for each pixel of the corresponding row is placed on the RGB data lines. At the next time interval, another gate line is activated and the RGB data for the pixels of that row is placed on the RGB data lines. For 1080 rows and a refresh rate of 60 Hz, each row is activated for about 15 microseconds each time it is activated, which is 60 times per second. When the sub-pixels of a row are not activated, the liquid crystal layer holds at least some of the charge to keep an orientation of the liquid crystals.

FIG. 9C is a schematic block diagram of an example of a pixel with three sub-pixels (R-red, G-green, and B-blue). In this example, the front sub-pixel electrodes are formed in the front transparent conductor layer 97 and the rear sub-pixel electrodes are formed in the rear transparent conductor layer 101. Each front and rear sub-pixel electrode is coupled to a corresponding thin film transistor. The thin film transistors coupled to the top sub-pixel electrodes are coupled to a front (f) gate line and to front R, G, and B data lines. The thin film transistors coupled to the bottom sub-pixel electrodes are coupled to a rear (f) gate line and to rear R, G, and B data lines.

To create an electric field between related sub-pixel electrodes, a differential gate signal is applied to the front and rear gate lines and differential R, G, and B data signals are applied to the front and rear R, G, and B data lines. For example, for the red (R) sub-pixel, the thin film transistors are activated by the signal on the gate lines. The electric field created by the red sub-pixel electrodes is depending on the front and rear Red data signals. As a specific example, a large differential voltage creates a large electric field, which twists the light towards maximum light passing and increases the red component of the pixel.

The gate lines and data lines are non-transparent wires (e.g., copper) that are positioned between the sub-pixel electrodes such that they are hidden from human sight. The non-transparent wires may be on the same layer as the sub-pixel electrodes or on different layers and coupled using vias.

FIG. 9D is a schematic block diagram of another example of a pixel with three sub-pixels (R-red, G-green, and B-blue). In this example, the front sub-pixel electrodes are formed in the front transparent conductor layer 97 and the rear sub-pixel electrodes are formed in the rear transparent conductor layer 101. Each front sub-pixel electrode is coupled to a corresponding thin film transistor. The thin film transistors coupled to the top sub-pixel electrodes are coupled to a front (f) gate line and to front R, G, and B data lines. Each rear sub-pixel electrode is coupled to a common voltage reference (e.g., ground, which may be a common ground plane or a segmented common ground plane (e.g., separate ground planes coupled together to form a common ground plane)).

To create an electric field between related sub-pixel electrodes, a single-ended gate signal is applied to the front gate lines and a single-ended R, G, and B data signals are applied to the front R, G, and B data lines. For example, for the red (R) sub-pixel, the thin film transistors are activated by the signal on the gate lines. The electric field created by the red sub-pixel electrodes is depending on the front Red data signals.

FIG. 9E is a schematic block diagram of an example of sub-pixel electrodes of the front or back electrode layer 97 or 101 coupled together to form row electrodes of a touch screen sensor. In this example, 3 rows of sub-pixel electrodes are coupled together by conductors (e.g., wires, metal traces, vias, etc.) to form one row electrode, which is coupled to a drive sense circuit (DSC) 28. More or less rows of sub-pixel electrodes may be coupled together to form a row electrode.

FIG. 9F is a schematic block diagram of an example of sub-pixel electrodes front or back electrode layer 97 or 101 coupled together to form column electrodes of a touch screen sensor. In this example, 9 columns of sub-pixel electrodes are coupled together by conductors (e.g., wires, metal traces, vias, etc.) to form one column electrode, which is coupled to a drive sense circuit (DSC) 28. More or less columns of sub-pixel electrodes may be coupled together to form a column electrode.

With respect to FIGS. 9E and 9F, the row electrodes may be formed on one of the transparent conductor layers 97 or 101 and the column electrodes are formed on the other. In this instance, differential signaling is used for display functionality of sub-pixel electrodes and a common mode voltage is used for touch sensing on the row and column electrodes. This allows for concurrent display and touch sensing operations with negligible adverse effect on display operation.

FIG. 9G is a schematic block diagram of an example of sub-pixel electrodes coupled together to form row electrodes and column electrodes of a touch screen sensor on one of the transparent conductive layers 97 or 101. In this example, 5 x 5 sub-pixel electrodes are coupled together to form a square (or diamond, depending on orientation), or other geometric shape. The 5 by 5 squares are then cross coupled together to form a row electrode or a column electrode.

In this example, white sub-pixel sub-electrodes with a grey background are grouped to form a row electrode for touch sensing and the grey sub-pixels with the white background are grouped to form a column electrode. Each row electrode and column electrode is coupled to a drive sense circuit (DSC) 28. As shown, the row and column electrodes for touch sensing are diagonal. Note that the geometric shape of the row and column electrodes may be of a different configuration (e.g., zig-zag pattern, lines, etc.) and that the number of sub-pixel electrodes per square (or other shape) may include more or less than 25.

FIG. 9H is a schematic block diagram of an example of a segmented common ground plane forming row electrodes and column electrodes of a touch screen sensor on the rear transparent conductive layer 101. In this instance, each square (or other shape) corresponds to a segment of a common ground plane that services a group of sub-pixel electrodes on the front transparent layer 97. The squares (or other shape) are coupled together to form row electrodes and column electrodes. The white segmented common ground planes are coupled together to form column electrodes and the grey segmented common ground planes are coupled together to form row electrodes. By implementing the on-cell touch screen row and column electrodes in the common ground plane, display and touch sense functionalities may be concurrently executed with negligible adverse effects on the display functionality.

FIG. 9I is a schematic block diagram of another example of sub-pixel electrodes coupled together to form row and column electrodes of a touch screen sensor. In this example, a sub-pixel is represented as a capacitor, with the top plate being implemented in the front ITO layer 97 and the bottom plate being implemented in the back ITO layer 101, which is implemented as a common ground plan. The thin film transistors are represented as switches. In this example, 3 x 3 sub-pixel electrodes on the rear ITO layer are coupled together to form a portion of a row electrode for touch sensing or a column electrode for touch sensing. With each of the drive sense circuits 28 injecting a common signal for self-capacitance sensing, the common signal has negligible adverse effects on the display operation of the sub-pixels.

FIG. 9J is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of a touch screen display 83-1 with on-cell touch sensors, which includes lighting layers 77 and display with integrated touch sensing layers 79. The lighting layers 77 include a light distributing layer 87, a light guide layer 85, a prism film layer 83, and a defusing film layer 81. The display with integrated touch sensing layers 79 include a rear polarizing film layer 105, a glass layer 103, a rear transparent electrode layer with thin film transistors 101 (which may be two or more separate layers), a liquid crystal layer (e.g., a rubber polymer layer with spacers) 99, a front electrode layer with thin film transistors 97, a color mask layer 95, a glass layer 93, a transparent touch layer 107, and a front polarizing film layer 91. Note that one or more protective layers may be applied over the polarizing film layer 91.

The lighting layer 77 and the display with integrated touch sensing layer 79-1 function as described with reference to FIG. 9A for generating a display. A difference lies in how on-cell touch sensing of this embodiment in comparison to the in-cell touch sensing of FIG. 9A. In particular, this embodiment includes an extra transparent conductive layer 107 to provide, or assist, with capacitive-based touch sensing. For example, the extra transparent conductive layer 107 includes row and column electrodes as shown in FIG. 9H. As another example, the extra transparent conductive layer 107 includes row electrodes or column electrodes and another one of the conductive layers 97 or 101 includes the other electrodes (e.g., column electrodes if the extra transparent layer includes row electrodes).

FIG. 10A is a cross section schematic block diagram of a touch screen display 80 without a touch of a finger or a pen. The cross section is taken parallel to a column electrode 85-c and a perpendicular to a row electrode 85-r. The column electrode 85-c is positioned between two dielectric layers 140 and 142. Alternatively, the column electrode 85-c is in the second dielectric layer 142. The row electrode 85-r is positioned in the second dielectric layer 142. Alternatively, the row electrode 85-r is positioned between the dielectric layer 142 and the display substrate 144. As another alternative, the row and column electrodes are in the same layer. In one or more embodiments, the row and column electrodes are formed as discussed in one or more of FIGS. 9A - 9J.

Each electrode 85 has a self-capacitance, which corresponds to a parasitic capacitance created by the electrode with respect to other conductors in the display (e.g., ground, conductive layer(s), and/or one or more other electrodes). For example, row electrode 85-r has a parasitic capacitance C_(p2) and column electrode 85-c has a parasitic capacitance C_(p1). Note that each electrode includes a resistance component and, as such, produces a distributed R-C circuit. The longer the electrode, the greater the impedance of the distributed R-C circuit. For simplicity of illustration the distributed R-C circuit of an electrode will be represented as a single parasitic capacitance.

As shown, the touch screen display 80 includes a plurality of layers 140-144. Each illustrated layer may itself include one or more layers. For example, dielectric layer 140 includes a surface protective film, a glass protective film, and/or one or more pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) layers. As another example, the second dielectric layer 142 includes a glass cover, a polyester (PET) film, a support plate (glass or plastic) to support, or embed, one or more of the electrodes 85-c and 85-r, a base plate (glass, plastic, or PET), and one or more PSA layers. As yet another example, the display substrate 144 includes one or more LCD layers, a back-light layer, one or more reflector layers, one or more polarizing layers, and/or one or more PSA layers.

FIG. 10B is a cross section schematic block diagram of a touch screen display 80, which is the same as in FIG. 9 . This figure further includes a finger touch, which changes the self-capacitance of the electrodes. In essence, a finger touch creates a parallel capacitance with the parasitic self-capacitances. For example, the self-capacitance of the column electrode 85-c is C_(p1) (parasitic capacitance) + C_(f1) (finger capacitance) and the self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r is C_(p2) + C_(f2). As such, the finger capacitance increases the self-capacitance of the electrodes, which decreases the impedance for a given frequency. The change in impedance of the self-capacitance is detectable by a corresponding drive sense circuit and is subsequently processed to indicate a screen touch.

FIG. 11 is a cross section schematic block diagram of a touch screen display 80, which is the same as in FIG. 9 . This figure further includes a mutual capacitance (C_(m_0)) between the electrodes when a touch is not present.

FIG. 12 is a cross section schematic block diagram of a touch screen display 80, which is the same as in FIG. 9 . This figure further includes a mutual capacitance (C_(m_1)) between the electrodes when a touch is present. In this example, the finger capacitance is effectively in series with the mutual capacitance, which decreasing capacitance of the mutual capacitance. As the capacitance decreases for a given frequency, the impedance increases. The change in impedance of the mutual-capacitance is detectable by a corresponding drive sense circuit and is subsequently processed to indicate a screen touch. Note that, depending on the various properties (e.g., thicknesses, dielectric constants, electrode sizes, electrode spacing, etc.) of the touch screen display, the parasitic capacitances, the mutual capacitances, and/or the finger capacitance are in the range of a few pico-Farads to tens of nano-Farads. In equation form, the capacitance (C) equals:

$C = \varepsilon\frac{A}{d}$

$\begin{array}{l} {where\mspace{6mu} A\mspace{6mu} is\mspace{6mu} plate\mspace{6mu} area,\mspace{6mu}\varepsilon\mspace{6mu} is\mspace{6mu} the\mspace{6mu} dielectric\mspace{6mu} constant(s),} \\ {anddisthedistancebetweentheplates.} \end{array}$

FIG. 13 is an example graph that plots condition verses capacitance for an electrode of a touch screen display. As shown, the mutual capacitance decreases with a touch and the self-capacitance increases with a touch. Note that the mutual capacitance and self-capacitance for a no-touch condition are shown to be about the same. This is done merely for ease of illustration. In practice, the mutual capacitance and self-capacitance may or may not be about the same capacitance based on the various properties of the touch screen display discussed above.

FIG. 14 is an example graph that plots impedance verses frequency for an electrode of a touch screen display. Since the impedance of an electrode is primarily based on its capacitance (self and/or mutual), as the frequency increases for a fixed capacitance, the impedance decreases based on ½πfC, where f is the frequency and C is the capacitance.

FIG. 15 is a time domain example graph that plots magnitude verses time for an analog reference signal 122. As discussed with reference to FIG. 8 , the analog reference signal 122 (e.g., a current signal or a voltage signal) is inputted to a comparator and is compared to the sensor signal 116. The feedback loop of the drive sense circuit 28 functions to keep the senor signal 116 substantially matching the analog reference signal 122. As such, the sensor signal 116 will have a similar waveform to that of the analog reference signal 122.

In an example, the analog reference signal 122 includes a DC component 121 and/or one or more oscillating components 123. The DC component 121 is a DC voltage in the range of a few hundred milli-volts to tens of volts or more. The oscillating component 123 includes a sinusoidal signal, a square wave signal, a triangular wave signal, a multiple level signal (e.g., has varying magnitude over time with respect to the DC component), and/or a polygonal signal (e.g., has a symmetrical or asymmetrical polygonal shape with respect to the DC component).

In another example, the frequency of the oscillating component 123 may vary so that it can be tuned to the impedance of the sensor and/or to be off-set in frequency from other sensor signals in a system. For example, a capacitance sensor’s impedance decreases with frequency. As such, if the frequency of the oscillating component is too high with respect to the capacitance, the capacitor looks like a short and variances in capacitances will be missed. Similarly, if the frequency of the oscillating component is too low with respect to the capacitance, the capacitor looks like an open and variances in capacitances will be missed.

FIG. 16 is a frequency domain example graph that plots magnitude verses frequency for an analog reference signal 122. As shown, the analog reference signal 122 includes the DC component 121 at DC (e.g., 0 Hz or near 0 Hz), a first oscillating component 123-1 at a first frequency (f₁), and a second oscillating component 123-2 at a second frequency (f₂). In an example, the DC component is used to measure resistance of an electrode (if desired), the first oscillating component 123-1 is used to measure the impedance of self-capacitance, and the second oscillating component 123-2 is used to measure the impedance of mutual-capacitance. Note that the second frequency may be greater than the first frequency.

FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit 28-1 coupled to a first electrode 85-c and a second drive sense circuit 28-2 coupled to a second electrode 85-r without a touch proximal to the electrodes. Each of the drive sense circuits include a comparator, an analog to digital converter (ADC) 130, a digital to analog converter (DAC) 132, a signal source circuit 133, and a driver. The functionality of this embodiment of a drive sense circuit was described with reference to FIG. 8 . For additional embodiments of a drive sense circuit see pending patent application entitled, “Drive Sense Circuit with Drive-Sense Line” having a filing date of Aug. 26, 2019, and an application number of 16/113,379.

As an example, a first reference signal 122-1 (e.g., analog, or digital) is provided to the first drive sense circuit 28-1 and a second reference signal 122-2 (e.g., analog, or digital) is provided to the second drive sense circu9it 28-2. The first reference signal includes a DC component and/or an oscillating at frequency f₁. The second reference signal includes a DC component and/or two oscillating components: the first at frequency f₁ and the second at frequency f₂.

The first drive sense circuit 28-1 generates a sensor signal 116 based on the reference signal 122-1 and provides the sensor signal to the column electrode 85-c. The second drive sense circuit generates another sensor signal 116 based on the reference signal 122-2 and provides the sensor signal to the column electrode.

In response to the sensor signals being applied to the electrodes, the first drive sense circuit 28-1 generates a first sensed signal 120-1, which includes a component at frequency f₁ and a component a frequency f₂. The component at frequency f₁ corresponds to the self-capacitance of the column electrode 85-c and the component a frequency f₂ corresponds to the mutual capacitance between the row and column electrodes 85-c and 85-r. The self-capacitance is expressed as 1/(2πf₁Cp₁) and the mutual capacitance is expressed as 1/(2πf₂Cm_0).

Also, in response to the sensor signals being applied to the electrodes, the second drive sense circuit 28-1 generates a second sensed signal 120-2, which includes a component at frequency f₁ and a component a frequency f₂. The component at frequency f₁ corresponds to a shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r and the component a frequency f₂ corresponds to an unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r. The shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode is expressed as 1/(2πf₁Cp₂) and the unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode is expressed as 1/(2πf₂Cp₂).

With each active drive sense circuit using the same frequency for self-capacitance (e.g., f₁), the row and column electrodes are at the same potential, which substantially eliminates cross-coupling between the electrodes. This provides a shielded (i.e., low noise) self-capacitance measurement for the active drive sense circuits. In this example, with the second drive sense circuit transmitting the second frequency component, it has a second frequency component in its sensed signal, but is primarily based on the row electrode’s self-capacitance with some cross coupling from other electrodes carrying signals at different frequencies. The cross coupling of signals at other frequencies injects unwanted noise into this self-capacitance measurement and hence it is referred to as unshielded.

FIG. 18 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit 28-1 coupled to a first electrode 85-c and a second drive sense circuit 28-2 coupled to a second electrode 85-r with a finger touch proximal to the electrodes. This example is similar to the one of FIG. 17 with the difference being a finger touch proximal to the electrodes (e.g., a touch that shadows the intersection of the electrodes or is physically close to the intersection of the electrodes). With the finger touch, the self-capacitance and the mutual capacitance of the electrodes are changed.

In this example, the impedance of the self-capacitance at f₁ of the column electrode 85-c now includes the effect of the finger capacitance. As such, the impedance of the self-capacitance of the column electrode equals 1/(2πf₁ ^(∗)(Cp₁ + C_(f1))), which is included the sensed signal 120-1. The second frequency component at f₂ corresponds to the impedance of the mutual-capacitance at f₂, which includes the effect of the finger capacitance. As such, the impedance of the mutual capacitance equals 1/(2πf₂Cm_₁), where C_(m_1) = (C_(m_0) ^(∗)C_(f1))/(C_(m_0) + C_(f1)).

Continuing with this example, the first frequency component at f₁ of the second sensed signal 120-2 corresponds to the impedance of the shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r at f₁, which is effected by the finger capacitance. As such, the impedance of the capacitance of the row electrode 85-r equals 1/(2πf₁ ^(∗)(Cp₂ +C_(f2))). The second frequency component at f₂ of the second sensed signal 120-2 corresponds to the impedance of the unshielded self-capacitance at f₂, which includes the effect of the finger capacitance and is equal to 1/(2πf_(2*)(Cp₂ +Cf₂)).

FIG. 19 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit 28-1 coupled to a first electrode 85-c and a second drive sense circuit 28-2 coupled to a second electrode 85-r with a pen touch proximal to the electrodes. This example is similar to the one of FIG. 17 with the difference being a pen touch proximal to the electrodes (e.g., a touch that shadows the intersection of the electrodes or is physically close to the intersection of the electrodes). With the pen touch, the self-capacitance and the mutual capacitance of the electrodes are changed based on the capacitance of the pen C_(pen1) and C_(pen2).

In this example, the impedance of the self-capacitance at f₁ of the column electrode 85-c now includes the effect of the pen’s capacitance. As such, the impedance of the self-capacitance of the column electrode equals 1/(2π_(f1) ^(∗)(Cp₁ + C_(pen1))), which is included the sensed signal 120-1. The second frequency component at f₂ corresponds to the impedance of the mutual-capacitance at f₂, which includes the effect of the pen capacitance. As such, the impedance of the mutual capacitance equals 1/(2πf₂Cm_₂), where Cm_₂ = (Cm_₀ ^(∗)C_(pen2))/(C_(m_0) + C_(pen1)).

Continuing with this example, the first frequency component at f₁ of the second sensed signal 120-2 corresponds to the impedance of the shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r at f₃, which is effected by the pen capacitance. As such, the impedance of the shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r equals 1/(2πf1^(∗)(Cp₂ +C_(pen2))). The second frequency component at f₂ of the second sensed signal 120-2 corresponds to the impedance of the unshielded self-capacitance at f₂, which includes the effect of the pen capacitance and is equal to 1/(2π_(f2) ^(∗)(C_(p2) +C_(pen2))). Note that the pen capacitance is represented as two capacitances, but may be one capacitance value or a plurality of distributed capacitance values.

FIG. 20 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a first drive sense circuit 28-1 coupled to a first electrode 85-c and a second drive sense circuit 28-2 coupled to a second electrode 85-r with a pen proximal to the electrodes. Each of the drive sense circuits include a comparator, an analog to digital converter (ADC) 130, a digital to analog converter (DAC) 132, a signal source circuit 133, and a driver. The functionality of this embodiment of a drive sense circuit was described with reference to FIG. 8 . The pen is operable to transmit a signal at a frequency of f4, which affects the self and mutual capacitances of the electrodes 85.

In this example, a first reference signal 122-1 is provided to the first drive sense circuit 28-1. The first reference signal includes a DC component and/or an oscillating component at frequency f₁. The first oscillating component at f₁ is used to sense impedance of the self-capacitance of the column electrode 85-c. The first drive sense circuit 28-1 generates a first sensed signal 120-1 that includes three frequency dependent components. The first frequency component at f₁ corresponds to the impedance of the self-capacitance at f₁, which equals 1/(2π_(f1)C_(p1)). The second frequency component at f₂ corresponds to the impedance of the mutual-capacitance at f₂, which equals 1/(2πf₂Cm_₀). The third frequency component at f4 corresponds to the signal transmitted by the pen.

Continuing with this example, a second reference signal 122-2 is provided to the second drive sense circuit 28-2. The second analog reference signal includes a DC component and/or two oscillating components: the first at frequency f₁ and the second at frequency f₂. The first oscillating component at f₁ is used to sense impedance of the shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r and the second oscillating component at f₂ is used to sense the unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85-r. The second drive sense circuit 28-2 generates a second sensed signal 120-2 that includes three frequency dependent components. The first frequency component at f₁ corresponds to the impedance of the shielded self-capacitance at f₃, which equals 1/(2πf₁C_(p2)). The second frequency component at f₂ corresponds to the impedance of the unshielded self-capacitance at f₂, which equals 1/(2πf₂C_(p2)). The third frequency component at f4 corresponds to signal transmitted by the pen.

As a further example, the pen transmits a sinusoidal signal having a frequency of f₄. When the pen is near the surface of the touch screen, electromagnetic properties of the signal increase the voltage on (or current in) the electrodes proximal to the touch of the pen. Since impedance is equal to voltage/current and as a specific example, when the voltage increases for a constant current, the impedance increases. As another specific example, when the current increases for a constant voltage, the impedance increases. The increase in impedance is detectable and is used as an indication of a touch.

FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a touch screen display 80 that includes the display 83, the electrodes 85, a plurality of drive sense circuits (DSC), and the touch screen processing module 82, which function as previously discussed. In addition, the touch screen processing module 82 generates a plurality of control signals 150 to enable the drive-sense circuits (DSC) to monitor the sensor signals 120 on the electrodes 85. For example, the processing module 82 provides an individual control signal 150 to each of the drive sense circuits to individually enable or disable the drive sense circuits. In an embodiment, the control signal 150 closes a switch to provide power to the drive sense circuit. In another embodiment, the control signal 150 enables one or more components of the drive sense circuit.

The processing module 82 further provides analog reference signals 122 to the drive sense circuits. In an embodiment, each drive sense circuit receives a unique analog reference signal. In another embodiment, a first group of drive sense circuits receive a first analog reference signal and a second group of drive sense circuits receive a second analog reference signal. In yet another embodiment, the drive sense circuits receive the same analog reference signal. Note that the processing module 82 uses a combination of analog reference signals with control signals to ensure that different frequencies are used for oscillating components of the analog reference signal.

The drive sense circuits provide sensed signals 116 to the electrodes. The impedances of the electrodes affect the sensed signal, which the drive sense circuits sense via the received signal component and generate the sensed signal 120 therefrom. The sensed signals 120 are essentially representations of the impedances of the electrodes, which are provided to the touch screen processing module 82.

The processing module 82 interprets the sensed signals 122 (e.g., the representations of impedances of the electrodes) to detect a change in the impedance of one or more electrodes. For example, a finger touch increases the self-capacitance of an electrode, thereby decreasing its impedance at a given frequency. As another example, a finger touch decreases the mutual capacitance of an electrode, thereby increasing its impedance at a given frequency. The processing module 82 then interprets the change in the impedance of one or more electrodes to indicate one or more touches of the touch screen display 80.

FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram of a touchless example of a few drive sense circuits 28 and a portion of the touch screen processing module 82 of a touch screen display 80. The portion of the processing module 82 includes band pass filters 160, 162, 160-1, & 160-2, self-frequency interpreters 164 & 164-1, and 166 & 166-1. As previously discussed, a first drive sense circuit is coupled to column electrode 85 c and a second drive sense circuit is coupled to a row electrode 85 r.

The drive sense circuits provide sensor signals 116 to their respective electrodes 85 and produce therefrom respective sensed signals 120. The first sensed signal 120-1 includes a first frequency component at f₁ that corresponds to the self-capacitance of the column electrode 85 c and a second frequency component at f₂ that corresponds to the mutual capacitance of the column electrode 85 c. The second sensed signal 120-2 includes a first frequency component at f₁ that corresponds to the shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r and/or a second frequency component at f₂ that corresponds to the unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r. In an embodiment, the sensed signals 120 are frequency domain digital signals.

The first bandpass filter 160 passes (i.e., substantially unattenuated) signals in a bandpass region (e.g., tens of Hertz to hundreds of thousands of Hertz, or more) centered about frequency f₁ and attenuates signals outside of the bandpass region. As such, the first bandpass filter 160 passes the portion of the sensed signal 120-1 that corresponds to the self-capacitance of the column electrode 85 c. In an embodiment, the sensed signal 116 is a digital signal, thus, the first bandpass filter 160 is a digital filter such as a cascaded integrated comb (CIC) filter, a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter, a Butterworth filter, a Chebyshev filter, an elliptic filter, etc.

The frequency interpreter 164 receives the first bandpass filter sensed signal and interprets it to render a self-capacitance value 168-1 for the column electrode. As an example, the frequency interpreter 164 is a processing module, or portion thereof, that executes a function to convert the first bandpass filter sensed signal into the self-capacitance value 168-1, which is an actual capacitance value, a relative capacitance value (e.g., in a range of 0-100), or a difference capacitance value (e.g., is the difference between a default capacitance value and a sensed capacitance value). As another example, the frequency interpreter 164 is a look up table where the first bandpass filter sensed signal is an index for the table.

The second bandpass filter 162 passes, substantially unattenuated, signals in a second bandpass region (e.g., tens of Hertz to hundreds of thousands of Hertz, or more) centered about frequency f₂ and attenuates signals outside of the bandpass region. As such, the second bandpass filter 160 passes the portion of the sensed signal 120-1 that corresponds to the mutual-capacitance of the column electrode 85 c and the row electrode 85 r. In an embodiment, the sensed signal 116 is a digital signal, thus, the second bandpass filter 162 is a digital filter such as a cascaded integrated comb (CIC) filter, a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter, a Butterworth filter, a Chebyshev filter, an elliptic filter, etc.

The frequency interpreter 166 receives the second bandpass filter sensed signal and interprets it to render a mutual-capacitance value 170-1. As an example, the frequency interpreter 166 is a processing module, or portion thereof, that executes a function to convert the second bandpass filter sensed signal into the mutual-capacitance value 170-1, which is an actual capacitance value, a relative capacitance value (e.g., in a range of 0-100), and/or a difference capacitance value (e.g., is the difference between a default capacitance value and a sensed capacitance value). As another example, the frequency interpreter 166 is a look up table where the first bandpass filter sensed signal is an index for the table.

For the row electrode 85 r, the drive-sense circuit 28 produces a second sensed signal 120-2, which includes a shielded self-capacitance component and/or an unshielded self-capacitance component. The third bandpass filter 160-1 is similar to the first bandpass filter 160 and, as such passes signals in a bandpass region centered about frequency f₁ and attenuates signals outside of the bandpass region. In this example, the third bandpass filter 160-1 passes the portion of the second sensed signal 120-2 that corresponds to the shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r.

The frequency interpreter 164-1 receives the second bandpass filter sensed signal and interprets it to render a second and shielded self-capacitance value 168-2 for the row electrode. The frequency interpreter 164-1 may be implemented similarly to the first frequency interpreter 164 or an integrated portion thereof. In an embodiment, the second self-capacitance value 168-2 is an actual capacitance value, a relative capacitance value (e.g., in a range of 0-100), or a difference capacitance value (e.g., is the difference between a default capacitance value and a sensed capacitance value).

The fourth bandpass filter 162-2, if included, is similar to the second bandpass filter 162. As such, it passes, substantially unattenuated, signals in a bandpass region centered about frequency f₂ and attenuates signals outside of the bandpass region. In this example, the fourth bandpass filter 162-2 passes the portion of the second sensed signal 120-2 that corresponds to the unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r.

The frequency interpreter 166-1, if included, receives the fourth bandpass filter sensed signal and interprets it to render an unshielded self-capacitance value 168-2. The frequency interpreter 166-1 may be implemented similarly to the first frequency interpreter 166 or an integrated portion thereof. In an embodiment, the unshielded self-capacitance value 170-2 is an actual capacitance value, a relative capacitance value (e.g., in a range of 0-100), or a difference capacitance value (e.g., is the difference between a default capacitance value and a sensed capacitance value). Note that the unshielded self-capacitance may be ignored, thus band pass filter 162-1 and frequency interpreter 166-1 may be omitted.

FIG. 23 is a schematic block diagram of a finger touch example of a few drive sense circuits and a portion of the touch screen processing module of a touch screen display that is similar to FIG. 22 , with the difference being a finger touch as represented by the finger capacitance C_(f). In this example, the self-capacitance and mutual capacitance of each electrode is effected by the finger capacitance.

The effected self-capacitance of the column electrode 85 c is processed by the first bandpass filter 160 and the frequency interpreter 164 to produce a self-capacitance value 168-1 a. The mutual capacitance of the column electrode 85 c and row electrode is processed by the second bandpass filter 162 and the frequency interpreter 166 to produce a mutual-capacitance value 170-1a.

The effected shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r is processed by the third bandpass filter 160-1 and the frequency interpreter 164-1 to produce a self-capacitance value 168-2a. The effected unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r is processed by the fourth bandpass filter 162-1 and the frequency interpreter 166-1 to produce an unshielded self-capacitance value 170-2 a.

FIG. 24 is a schematic block diagram of a pen touch example of a few drive sense circuits and a portion of the touch screen processing module of a touch screen display that is similar to FIG. 22 , with the difference being a pen touch as represented by the pen capacitance C_(pen). In this example, the self-capacitance and mutual capacitance of each electrode is effected by the pen capacitance.

The effected self-capacitance of the column electrode 85 c is processed by the first bandpass filter 160 and the frequency interpreter 164 to produce a self-capacitance value 168-1 a. The effected mutual capacitance of the column electrode 85 c and row electrode 85 r is processed by the second bandpass filter 162 and the frequency interpreter 166 to produce a mutual-capacitance value 170-1 a.

The effected shielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r is processed by the third bandpass filter 160-1 and the frequency interpreter 164-1 to produce a shielded self-capacitance value 168-2 a. The effected unshielded self-capacitance of the row electrode 85 r is processed by the fourth bandpass filter 162-1 and the frequency interpreter 166-1 to produce an unshielded self-capacitance value 170-2 a.

FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing device 14-a having touch screen display 80-a. The computing device 14-a is a cell phone, a personal video device, a tablet, or the like and the touch screen display has a screen size that is equal to or less than 15 inches. The computing device 14-a includes a processing module 42-a, main memory 44-a, and a transceiver 200. An embodiment of the transceiver 200 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 27 . The processing module 42-a and the main memory 44-a are similar to the processing module 42 and the main memory 44 of the computing device 14 of FIG. 2 .

FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a computing device 14-b having touch screen display 80-b. The computing device 14-b is a computer, an interactive display, a large tablet, or the like and the touch screen display 80-b has a screen size that is greater than 15 inches. The computing device 14-b includes a processing module 42-b, main memory 44-b, and a transceiver 200. An embodiment of the transceiver 200 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 27 . The processing module 42-b and the main memory 44-b are similar to the processing module 42 and the main memory 44 of the computing device 14 of FIG. 2 .

FIG. 27 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a computing device 14-a and/or 14-b that includes the processing module 42 (e.g., a and/or b), the main memory 44 (e.g., a and/or b), the touch screen display 80 (e.g., a and/or b), and the transceiver 200. The transceiver 200 includes a transmit/receive switch module 173, a receive filter module 171, a low noise amplifier (LNA) 172, a down conversion module 170, a filter/gain module 168, an analog to digital converter (ADC) 166, a digital to analog converter (DAC) 178, a filter/gain module 170, an up-conversion module 182, a power amplifier (PA) 184, a transmit filter module 185, one or more antennas 186, and a local oscillation module 174. In an alternate embodiment, the transceiver 200 includes a transmit antenna and a receiver antenna (as shown using dashed lines) and omit the common antenna 186 and the transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) switch module 173.

In an example of operation using the common antenna 186, the antenna receives an inbound radio frequency (RF) signal, which is routed to the receive filter module 171 via the Tx/Rx switch module 173 (e.g., a balun, a cross-coupling circuit, etc.). The receive filter module 171 is a bandpass or low pass filter that passes the inbound RF signal to the LNA 172, which amplifies it.

The down conversion module 170 converts the amplified inbound RF signal into a first inbound symbol stream corresponding to a first signal component (e.g., RX 1adj) and into a second inbound symbol stream corresponding to the second signal component (e.g., RX 2adj). In an embodiment, the down conversion module 170 mixes in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the amplified inbound RF signal (e.g., amplified RX 1adj and RX 2adj) with in-phase and quadrature components of receiver local oscillation 181 to produce a mixed I signal and a mixed Q signal for each component of the amplified inbound RF signal. Each pair of the mixed I and Q signals are combined to produce the first and second inbound symbol streams. In this embodiment, each of the first and second inbound symbol streams includes phase information (e.g., +/- Δθ [phase shift] and/or θ(t) [phase modulation]) and/or frequency information (e.g., +/- Δf [frequency shift] and/or f(t) [frequency modulation]). In another embodiment and/or in furtherance of the preceding embodiment, the inbound RF signal includes amplitude information (e.g., +/- ΔA [amplitude shift] and/or A(t) [amplitude modulation]).

The filter/gain module 168 filters the down-converted inbound signal, which is then converted into a digital inbound baseband signal 190 by the ADC 166. The processing module 42 converts the inbound symbol stream(s) into inbound data 192 (e.g., voice, text, audio, video, graphics, etc.) in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, HSUPA, HSDPA, WiMAX, EDGE, GPRS, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), long term evolution (LTE), IEEE 802.16, evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.). Such a conversion may include one or more of: digital intermediate frequency to baseband conversion, time to frequency domain conversion, space-time-block decoding, space-frequency-block decoding, demodulation, frequency spread decoding, frequency hopping decoding, beamforming decoding, constellation demapping, deinterleaving, decoding, depuncturing, and/or descrambling. Note that the processing module converts a single inbound symbol stream into the inbound data for Single Input Single Output (SISO) communications and/or for Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) communications and converts the multiple inbound symbol streams into the inbound data for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications.

In an example, the inbound data 192 includes display data 202. For example, the inbound RF signal 188 includes streaming video over a wireless link. As such, the inbound data 192 includes the frames of data 87 of the video file, which the processing module 42 provides to the touch screen display 80 for display. The processing module 42 further processes proximal touch data 204 (e.g., finger or pen touches) of the touch screen display 80. For example, a touch corresponds to a command that is to be wirelessly sent to the content provider of the streaming wireless video.

In this example, the processing module interprets the proximal touch data 204 to generate a command (e.g., pause, stop, etc.) regarding the streaming video. The processing module processes the command as outbound data 194 e.g., voice, text, audio, video, graphics, etc.) by converting it into one or more outbound symbol streams (e.g., outbound baseband signal 196) in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, HSUPA, HSDPA, WiMAX, EDGE, GPRS, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), long term evolution (LTE), IEEE 802.16, evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.). Such a conversion includes one or more of: scrambling, puncturing, encoding, interleaving, constellation mapping, modulation, frequency spreading, frequency hopping, beamforming, space-time-block encoding, space-frequency-block encoding, frequency to time domain conversion, and/or digital baseband to intermediate frequency conversion. Note that the processing module converts the outbound data into a single outbound symbol stream for Single Input Single Output (SISO) communications and/or for Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) communications and converts the outbound data into multiple outbound symbol streams for Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications.

The DAC 178 converts the outbound baseband signal 196 into an analog signal, which is filtered by the filter/gain module 180. The up-conversion module 182 mixes the filtered analog outbound baseband signal with a transmit local oscillation 183 to produce an up-converted signal. This may be done in a variety of ways. In an embodiment, in-phase and quadrature components of the outbound baseband signal are mixed with in-phase and quadrature components of the transmit local oscillation to produce the up-converted signal. In another embodiment, the outbound baseband signal provides phase information (e.g., +/- Δθ [phase shift] and/or θ(t) [phase modulation]) that adjusts the phase of the transmit local oscillation to produce a phase adjusted up-converted signal. In this embodiment, the phase adjusted up-converted signal provides the up-converted signal. In another embodiment, the outbound baseband signal further includes amplitude information (e.g., A(t) [amplitude modulation]), which is used to adjust the amplitude of the phase adjusted up converted signal to produce the up-converted signal. In yet another embodiment, the outbound baseband signal provides frequency information (e.g., +/- Δf [frequency shift] and/or f(t) [frequency modulation]) that adjusts the frequency of the transmit local oscillation to produce a frequency adjusted up-converted signal. In this embodiment, the frequency adjusted up-converted signal provides the up-converted signal. In another embodiment, the outbound baseband signal further includes amplitude information, which is used to adjust the amplitude of the frequency adjusted up-converted signal to produce the up-converted signal. In a further embodiment, the outbound baseband signal provides amplitude information (e.g., +/- ΔA [amplitude shift] and/or A(t) [amplitude modulation) that adjusts the amplitude of the transmit local oscillation to produce the up-converted signal.

The power amplifier 184 amplifies the up-converted signal to produce an outbound RF signal 198. The transmit filter module 185 filters the outbound RF signal 198 and provides the filtered outbound RF signal to the antenna 186 for transmission, via the transmit/receive switch module 173. Note that processing module may produce the display data from the inbound data, the outbound data, application data, and/or system data.

FIG. 28 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a first drive sense circuit 28-a coupled to a column electrode 85 c and a second drive sense circuit 28-b coupled to a row electrode 85 r without a touch proximal to the electrodes. The first drive sense circuit 28-a includes a power source circuit 210 and a power signal change detection circuit 212. The second drive sense circuit 28-b includes a power source circuit 210-1, a power signal change detection circuit 212-1, and a regulation circuit 220.

The power source circuit 210 of the first drive sense circuit 28-a is operably coupled to the column electrode 85 c and, when enabled (e.g., from a control signal from the processing module 42, power is applied, a switch is closed, a reference signal is received, etc.) provides a power signal 216 to the column electrode 85 c. The power source circuit 210 may be a voltage supply circuit (e.g., a battery, a linear regulator, an unregulated DC-to-DC converter, etc.) to produce a voltage-based power signal, a current supply circuit (e.g., a current source circuit, a current mirror circuit, etc.) to produce a current-based power signal, or a circuit that provides a desired power level to the sensor and substantially matches impedance of the sensor. The power source circuit 110 generates the power signal 116 to include a DC (direct current) component and/or an oscillating component.

When receiving the power signal 216, the impedance of the electrode affects 218 the power signal. When the power signal change detection circuit 212 is enabled, it detects the affect 218 on the power signal as a result of the impedance of the electrode. For example, the power signal is a 1.5 voltage signal and, under a first condition, the sensor draws 1 milliamp of current, which corresponds to an impedance of 1.5 K Ohms. Under a second conditions, the power signal remains at 1.5 volts and the current increases to 1.5 milliamps. As such, from condition 1 to condition 2, the impedance of the electrode changed from 1.5 K Ohms to 1 K Ohms. The power signal change detection circuit 212 determines the change and generates a sensed signal, or proximal touch data 220 therefrom.

The power source circuit 210-1 of the second drive sense circuit 28-b is operably coupled to the row electrode 85 r and, when enabled (e.g., from a control signal from the processing module 42, power is applied, a switch is closed, a reference signal is received, etc.) provides a power signal 216 to the electrode 85 r. The power source circuit 210-1 may be implemented similarly to power source circuit 210 and generates the power signal 216 to include a DC (direct current) component and/or an oscillating component.

When receiving the power signal 216, the impedance of the row electrode 85 r affects the power signal. When the change detection circuit 212-1 is enabled, it detects the affect on the power signal as a result of the impedance of the electrode 85 r. The change detection circuit 210-1 is further operable to generate a sensed signal 120, or proximal touch data 220, that is representative of change to the power signal based on the detected effect on the power signal.

The regulation circuit 152, when its enabled, generates regulation signal 22 to regulate the DC component to a desired DC level and/or regulate the oscillating component to a desired oscillating level (e.g., magnitude, phase, and/or frequency) based on the sensed signal 120. The power source circuit 210-1 utilizes the regulation signal 222 to keep the power signal 216 at a desired setting regardless of the impedance changes of the electrode 85 r. In this manner, the amount of regulation is indicative of the affect the impedance of the electrode has on the power signal.

In an example, the power source circuit 210-1 is a DC-DC converter operable to provide a regulated power signal 216 having DC and AC components. The change detection circuit 212-1 is a comparator and the regulation circuit 220 is a pulse width modulator to produce the regulation signal 222. The comparator compares the power signal 216, which is affected by the electrode, with a reference signal that includes DC and AC components. When the impedance is at a first level, the power signal is regulated to provide a voltage and current such that the power signal substantially resembles the reference signal.

When the impedance changes to a second level, the change detection circuit 212-1 detects a change in the DC and/or AC component of the power signal 216 and generates the sensed signal 120, which indicates the changes. The regulation circuit 220 detects the change in the sensed signal 120 and creates the regulation signal 222 to substantially remove the impedance change effect on the power signal 216. The regulation of the power signal 216 may be done by regulating the magnitude of the DC and/or AC components, by adjusting the frequency of AC component, and/or by adjusting the phase of the AC component.

FIG. 29 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a computing device 14 or 18 that includes the components of FIG. 2 and/or FIG. 3 . Only the processing module 42, the touch screen processing module 82, the display 80 or 90, the electrodes 85, and the drive sense circuits (DSC) are shown.

In an example of operation, the touch screen processing module 82 receives sensed signals from the drive sense circuits and interprets them to identify a finger or pen touch. In this example, there are no touches. The touch screen processing module 82 provides touch data (which includes location of touches, if any, based on the row and column electrodes having an impedance change due to the touch(es)) to the processing module 42.

The processing module 42 processes the touch data to produce a capacitive image 232 of the display 80 or 90. In this example, there are no touches, so the capacitive image 232 is substantially uniform across the display. The refresh rate of the capacitive image ranges from a few frames of capacitive images per second to a hundred or more frames of capacitive images per second. Note that the capacitive image may be generated in a variety of ways. For example, the self-capacitance and/or mutual capacitance of each touch cell (e.g., intersection of a row electrode with a column electrode) is represented by a color. When the touch cells have substantially the same capacitance, their representative color will be substantially the same. As another example, the capacitance image is topological mapping of differences between the capacitances of the touch cells.

FIG. 30 is a schematic block diagram of another example of a computing device that is substantially similar to the example of FIG. 29 with the exception that the touch data includes two touches. As such, the touch data generated by the touch screen processing module 82 includes the location of two touches based on effected rows and columns. The processing module 42 processes the touch data to determine the x-y coordinates of the touches on the display 80 or 90 and generates the capacitive image, which includes the touches.

FIG. 31 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method for generating a capacitive image of a touch screen display that is executed by the processing module 42 and/or 82. The method begins at step 240 where the processing module enables (for continuous or periodic operation) the drive-sense circuits to provide a sensor signals to the electrodes. For example, the processing module 42 and/or 82 provides a control signal to the drive sense circuits to enable them. The control signal allows power to be supplied to the drive sense circuits, to turn-on one or more of the components of the drive sense circuits, and/or close a switch coupling the drive sense circuits to their respective electrodes.

The method continues at step 242 where the processing module receives, from the drive-sense circuits, sensed indications regarding (self and/or mutual) capacitance of the electrodes. The method continues at step 244 where the processing module generates a capacitive image of the display based on the sensed indications. As part of step 244, the processing module stores the capacitive image in memory. The method continues at step 246 where the processing module interprets the capacitive image to identify one or more proximal touches (e.g., actual physical contact or near physical contact) of the touch screen display.

The method continues at step 248 where the processing module processes the interpreted capacitance image to determine an appropriate action. For example, if the touch(es) corresponds to a particular part of the screen, the appropriate action is a select operation. As another example, of the touches are in a sequence, then the appropriate action is to interpret the gesture and then determine the particular action.

The method continues at step 250 where the processing module determines whether to end the capacitance image generation and interpretation. If so, the method continues to step 252 where the processing module disables the drive sense circuits. If the capacitance image generation and interpretation is to continue, the method reverts to step 240.

FIG. 32 is a schematic block diagram of an example of generating capacitive images over a time period. In this example, two touches are detected at time t0 and move across and upwards through the display over times t1 through t5. The movement corresponds to a gesture or action. For instance, the action is dragging a window across and upwards through the display.

FIG. 33 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method for identifying desired and undesired touches using a capacitive image that is executed by processing module 42 and/or 82. The method starts are step 260 where the processing module detects one or more touches. The method continues at step 262 where the processing module determines the type of touch for each detected touch. For example, a desired touch is a finger touch or a pen touch. As a further example, an undesired touch is a water droplet, a side of a hand, and/or an object.

The method continues at step 264 where the processing module determines, for each touch, whether it is a desired or undesired touch. For example, a desired touch of a pen and/or a finger will have a known effect on the self-capacitance and mutual-capacitance of the effected electrodes. As another example, an undesired touch will have an effect on the self-capacitance and/or mutual-capacitance outside of the know effect of a finger and/or a pen. As another example, a finger touch will have a known and predictable shape, as will a pen touch. An undesired touch will have a shape that is different from the known and desired touches.

If the touch is desired, the method continues at step 266 where the processing module continues to monitor the desired touch. If the touch is undesired, the method continues at step 268 where the processing module ignores the undesired touch.

FIG. 34 is a schematic block diagram of an example of using capacitive images to identify desired and undesired touches. In this example, the desired pen touch 270 will be processed and the undesired hand touch 272 will be ignored.

FIG. 35 is a schematic block diagram of another example of using capacitive images to identify desired and undesired touches. In this example, the desired finger touch 276 will be processed and the undesired water touch 274 will be ignored. The undesired water touch 274 would not produce a change to the self-capacitance of the effected electrodes since the water does not have a path to ground and the same frequency component is used for self-capacitance for activated electrodes.

FIG. 36 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a near bezel-less touch screen display 240 that includes a display 242, a near bezel-less frame 244, touch screen circuit 246, and a plurality of electrodes 85. The touch screen display 240 is a large screen with a diagonal dimension of 32 inches or more. The near bezel-less frame 244 has a visible width with respect to the display of one inch or less. In an embodiment, the width of the near bezel-less frame 244 is ½ inch or less on two or more sides. The display 242 has properties in accordance with the table of paragraph 107.

An issue with a large display and very small bezel of the frame 244 is running leads to the electrodes 85 from the touch screen circuitry 246. The connecting leads, which are typically conventional wires, need to be located with the frame 244 or they will adversely effect the display. The larger the display, the more electrodes and the more leads that connect to them. To get the connecting leads to fit within the frame, they need to be tightly packed together (i.e., very little space between them). This creates two problems for conventional touch screen circuitry: (1) with conventional low voltage signaling to the electrodes (e.g., signals swinging from rail to rail of the power supply voltage, which is at least 1 volt and typically greater than 1.5), electromagnetic cross-coupling between the leads causing interference between the signal; and (2) the tight coupling of the leads increases the parasitic capacitance of each lead, which increases the power requirements. With conventional touch screen circuitry, the larger the screen, the more cross-coupling interference and more power is required. Because of these issues, display sizes for touch screen displays have been effectively limited to smaller display sizes (e.g., less than 32 inches).

With the touch screen circuitry 246 disclosed herein, effective and efficient large touch screen displays can be practically realized. For instance, the touch screen circuitry 246 uses very low voltage signaling (e.g., 25 - 250 milli-volt RMS of the oscillating component of the sensor signal or power signal), which reduces power requirements and substantially reduces adverse effects of cross-coupling between the leads. For example, when the oscillating component is a sinusoidal signal at 25 milli-volt RMS and each electrode (or at least some of them) are driven by oscillating components of different frequencies, the cross-coupling is reduced and, what crosscoupled does exist, is easily filtered out. Continuing with the example, with a 25 milli-voltage signal and increased impedance of longer electrodes and tightly packed leads, the power requirement is dramatically reduced. As a specific example, for conventional touch screen circuitry operating with a power supply of 1.5 volts and the touch screen circuitry 246 operating with 25 milli-volt signaling, the power requirements are reduced by as much as 60 times.

In an embodiment, the near bezel-less touch screen display 240 includes the display 242, the near bezel-less frame 244, electrodes 85, and the touch screen circuitry 246, which includes drive sense circuits (DSC) and a processing module. The display 242 is operable to render frames of data into visible images. The near bezel-less frame 244 at least partially encircles the display 242. In this example, the frame 244 fully encircles the frame and the touch screen circuitry 246 is positioned in the bezel area to have about the same number of electrode connections on each side of it. In FIG. 40 , as will be subsequently discussed, the frame 244 partially encircles the display 242.

The drive-sense circuits are coupled to the electrodes via connections, which are substantially within the near bezel-less frame. The connections include wires and connectors, which are achieved by welds, crimping, soldering, male-female connectors, etc. The drive-sense circuits are operable to provide and monitor sensor signals of the electrodes 85 to detect impedance and impedance changes of the electrodes. The processing module processes the impedances of the electrodes to determine one or more touches on the touch screen display 240.

In the present FIG. 36 , the electrodes 85 are shown in a first arrangement (e.g., as rows) and a second arrangement (e.g., as columns). Other patterns for the electrodes may be used to detect touches to the screen. For example, the electrodes span only part of the way across the display and other electrodes span the remaining part of the display. As another example, the electrodes are patterned at an angle different than 90 degrees with respect to each other.

FIG. 37 is a schematic block diagram that further illustrates an embodiment of a near bezel-less touch screen display 242. As shown, the touch screen circuit 246 is coupled to the electrodes 85 via a plurality of connectors 248. The electrodes are arranged in rows and columns, are constructive of a transparent conductive material (e.g., ITO) and distributed throughout the display 242. The larger the touch screen display, the more electrodes are needed. For example, a touch screen display includes hundreds to hundreds of thousands, or more, of electrodes.

The connections 248 and the touch screen circuitry 246 are physically located with the near bezel-less frame 244. The more tightly packed the connectors, the thinner the bezel can be. A drive sense circuit of the touch screen circuitry 246 is coupled to an individual electrode 85. Thus, if there are 10,000 electrodes, there are 10,000 drive sense circuits and 10,000 connections. In an embodiment, the connections 248 include traces on a multi-layer printed circuit board, where the traces are spaced at a few microns or less. As another example, the spacing between the connections is a minimum spacing needed to ensure that the insulation between the connections does not break down. Note that the touch screen circuitry 246 may be implemented in multiple integrated circuits that are distributed about the frame 244.

FIG. 38 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of touch screen circuitry 246 that includes a touch screen processing module 82 and a plurality of drive sense circuits (DSC). Some of the drive sense circuits are coupled to row electrodes and other drive sense circuits are coupled to column electrodes. The touch screen circuitry 246 may be implemented in one or more integrated circuits. For example, the touch screen processing module 82 and a certain number (e.g., a hundred to thousands) of drive sense circuits are implemented on a single die. An integrated circuit may include one or more of the dies. Thus, depending on the number of electrodes in the touch screen display, one or more dies in one or more integrated circuits is needed.

When more than a single die is used, the touch screen circuitry 246 includes more than one processing module 82. In this instance, the processing modules 82 on different dies function as peer processing modules, in that, they communicate with their own drive sense circuits and process the data from the drive sense circuits and then coordinate to provide the process data upstream for further processing (e.g., determining whether touches have occurred, where on the screen, is the touch a desired touch, and what does the touch mean). The upstream processing may be done by another processing module (e.g., processing module 42), as a distributed function among the processing modules 82, and/or by a designed processing module of the processing modules 82.

FIG. 39 is a schematic block diagram of an example of frequencies for the various analog reference signals for the drive-sense circuits. As mentioned above, to reduce the adverse effects of cross-coupling, the drive sense circuits use a common frequency component for self-capacitance measurements and uses different frequencies components for mutual capacitance measurements. In this example, there are x number of equally-spaced different frequencies. The frequency spacing is dependent on the filtering of the sensed signals. For example, the frequency spacing is in the range of 10 Hz to 10′s of thousands of Hz. Note that the spacing between the frequencies does not need to be equal or that every frequency needs to be used. Further note that, for very large touch screen displays having tens to hundreds of thousands of electrodes, a frequency reuse pattern may be used.

FIG. 40 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a near bezel-less touch screen display 240-1 that includes the display 242, the electrodes 85, the touch screen display circuitry 246, and a near bezel-less frame 244-1. In this embodiment, the frame 244-1 is on two sides of the display 242; the other two sides are bezel-less. The functionality of the display 242, the electrodes 85, the touch screen display circuitry 246 are as previously discussed.

FIG. 41 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of multiple near bezel-less touch screen displays 250 that includes a plurality of near bezel-less touch screen displays 240-1. Each of the near bezel-less touch screen displays 240-1 have two sides that are bezel-less and two sides that include a near bezel-less frame. The location of the two bezel-less sides can vary such that the displays 240-1 can be positioned to create one large multiple touch screen display 250.

In an alternate embodiment, a near bezel-less touch screen display includes three sides that are bezel-less and one side that includes a near bezel-less frame. The side having the near bezel-less frame is variable to allow different combinations of the near bezel-less touch screen displays to create a large multiple touch screen display.

FIG. 42 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the touch screen circuitry 246 and one or more processing modules for the multiple near bezel-less touch screen displays of FIG. 41 . Each of the displays 240-1 includes touch screen circuitry 246-1 through 246-4, which are coupled together and to a centralized processing module 245. Each of the touch screen circuitry 246-1 through 246-4 interacts with the electrodes of its touch screen display 240-1 to produce capacitance information (e.g., self-capacitance, mutual capacitance, change in capacitance, location of the cells having a capacitance change, etc.).

The centralized processing module 245 processes the capacitance information from the touch screen circuitry 246-1 through 246-4 to determine location of a touch, or touches, meaning of the touch(es), etc. In an embodiment, the centralized processing module 245 is processing module 42. In another embodiment, the centralized processing module 245 is one of the processing modules of the touch screen circuitry 246-1 through 246-4. In yet another embodiment, the centralized processing module 245 includes two or more of the processing modules of the touch screen circuitry 246-1 through 246-4 functioning as a distributed processing module.

FIG. 43 is a cross section schematic block diagram of an example of a touch screen display 80 having a thick protective transparent layer 252. The display 80 further includes a first sensor layer 254, one or more pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) layers 256, a glass/film layer 258, a second sensor layer 260, an LCD layer 262, and a back-light layer 264. A first group of drive sense circuits 28 is coupled to the first sensor layer 254 and a second group of drive sense circuits 28 is coupled to the second sensor layer 260.

The thick protective transparent layer 252 includes one or more layers of glass, film, etc. to protect the display 250 from damaging impacts (e.g., impact force, impact pressure, etc.). In many instances, the thicker the protective transparent layer 252 is, the more protection it provides. For example, the protective transparent layer 252 is at least a ¼ inch thick and, in some applications, is thicker than 1 inch or more.

The protective transparent layer 252 acts as a dielectric for finger capacitance and/or for pen capacitance. The material, or materials, comprising the protective transparent layer 252 will have a dielectric constant (e.g., 5-10 for glass). The capacitance (finger or pen) is then at least partially based on the dielectric constant and thickness of the protective transparent layer 252. In particular, the capacitance (C) equals:

$\begin{matrix} {C = \varepsilon\frac{A}{d}\mspace{6mu} where\mspace{6mu} A\mspace{6mu} is\mspace{6mu} plate\mspace{6mu} area,\mspace{6mu}\varepsilon\mspace{6mu} is\mspace{6mu} the\mspace{6mu} dielectric\mspace{6mu} constant(s),} \\ {anddisthedistancebetweentheplates,\mspace{6mu} whichincludesthe} \\ {thickness\mspace{6mu} of\mspace{6mu} theprotectivelayer252.} \end{matrix}$

As such, the thicker the protective transparent layer, the smaller the capacitance (finger and/or pen). As the capacitance decreases, its effect on the self-capacitance of the sensor layers and the effect on the mutual capacitance between the sensor layer is reduced. Accordingly, the drive sense circuits 28 provide the sensor signals 266 at a desired voltage level, which increases as the finger and/or pen capacitance decreases due to the thickness of the protective transparent layer 252. In an embodiment, the first sensor layer includes a plurality of column electrodes and the second sensor layer includes a plurality of row electrodes.

There are a variety of ways to implement a touch sensor electrode. For example, the sensor electrode is implemented using a glass-glass configuration. As another example, the sensor electrode is implemented using a glass-film configuration. Other examples include a film-film configuration, a 2-sided film configuration, a glass and 2-sided film configuration, or a 2-sided glass configuration.

FIG. 44 is a cross section schematic block diagram that is similar to FIG. 43 , with the exception that this figure includes a finger touch. The finger touch provides a finger capacitance with respect the sensor layers 254 and 260. As is shown, the finger capacitance includes a first capacitance component from the finger to the first sensor layer (C_(f1)) and a second capacitance component from the finger to the second sensor layer (C_(f2)). As previously discussed, the finger capacitance is effectively in parallel with the self-capacitances (C_(p0) and C_(p1)) of the sensor layers, which increases the effective self-capacitance and decreases impedance at a given frequency. As also previously discussed, the finger capacitance is effectively in series with the mutual-capacitance (C_(m_0)) of the sensor layers, which decreases the effective mutual-capacitance (C_(m_1)) and increases impedance at a given frequency.

Thus, the smaller the finger capacitance due to a thicker protective layer 252, the less effect it has on the self-capacitance and mutual-capacitance. This can be better illustrated with reference to FIGS. 45 - 50 .

FIG. 45 is a schematic block diagram of an electrical equivalent circuit of two drive sense circuits coupled to two electrodes without a finger touch. The drive sense circuits are represented as dependent current sources, the self-capacitance of a first electrode is referenced as C_(p1), the self-capacitance of the second electrode is referenced as C_(p2), and the mutual capacitance between the electrodes is referenced as C_(m_0). In this example, the current source of the first drive sense circuit is providing a controlled current (I at f1) that includes a DC component and an oscillating component, which oscillates at frequency f1. The current source of the second drive sense circuit is providing a controlled current (I at f₁ and at f₂) that includes a DC component and two oscillating components at frequency f₁ and frequency f2.

The first controlled current (I at f1) has one components: i1_(Cp1) and the second controlled current (I at f1 and f2) has two components: i1+2_(Cp2) and i2_(Cm­_0). The current ratio between the two components for a controlled current is based on the respective impedances of the two paths.

FIG. 46 is a schematic block diagram of an electrical equivalent circuit of two drive sense circuits coupled to two electrodes as shown in FIG. 45 , but this figure includes a finger touch. The finger touch is represented by the finger capacitances (C_(f1) and C_(f2)), which are in parallel with the self-capacitance (C_(p1) and C_(p2)). The dependent current sources are providing the same levels of current as in FIG. 45 (I at f1 and I at f1 and f2).

In this example, however, more current is being directed towards the self-capacitance in parallel with the finger capacitance than in FIG. 45 . Further, less current is being directed towards the mutual capacitance (C_(m_1)) (i.e., taking charge away from the mutual capacitance, where C=Q/V). With the self-capacitance effectively having an increase in capacitance due to the finger capacitance, its impedance decreases and, with the mutual-capacitance effectively having a decrease in capacitance, its impedance increases.

The drive sense circuits can detect the change in the impedance of the self-capacitance and of the mutual capacitance when the change is within the sensitivity of the drive sense circuits. For example, V=I*Z, I*t = C*V, and Z = ½πfC (where V is voltage, I is current, Z is impedance, t is time, C is capacitance, and f is the frequency), thus V = I*½πfC. If the change between C is small, then the change in V will be small. If the change in V is too small to be detected by the drive sense circuit, then a finger touch will go undetected. To reduce the chance of missing a touch due to a thick protective layer, the voltage (V) and/or the current (I) can be increased. As such, for small capacitance changes, the increased voltage and/or current allows the drive sense circuit to detect a change in impedance. As an example, as the thickness of the protective layer increases, the voltage and/or current is increased by 2 to more than 100 times.

FIG. 47 is a schematic block diagram of an electrical equivalent circuit of a drive sense circuit coupled to an electrode without a finger touch. This similar to FIG. 45 , but for just one drive sense circuit and one electrode. Thus, the current source of the first drive sense circuit is providing a controlled current (I at f1) that includes a DC component and an oscillating component, which oscillates at frequency f1 and the first controlled current (I at f1) has two components: il_(Cp1) and il_(Cf1).

FIG. 48 is an example graph that plots finger capacitance verses protective layer thickness of a touch screen display 250. As shown, as the thickness increases, the finger capacitance decreases. This effects changes in the mutual-capacitance as shown in FIG. 49 and in self-capacitance as shown in FIG. 50 .

FIG. 49 is an example graph that plots mutual capacitance verses protective layer thickness and drive voltage verses protective layer thickness of a touch screen display 150. As shown, as the thickness increases, the difference between the mutual capacitance without a touch and mutual capacitance with a touch decreases. In order for the decreasing difference to be detected, the voltage (or current) sourced to the electrode increases substantially inversely proportion to the decrease in finger capacitance.

FIG. 50 is an example graph that plots self-capacitance verses protective layer thickness and drive voltage verses protective layer thickness of a touch screen display 150. As shown, as the thickness increases, the difference between the self-capacitance without a touch and self-capacitance with a touch decreases. In order for the decreasing difference to be detected, the voltage (or current) sourced to the electrode increases substantially inversely proportion to the decrease in finger capacitance.

FIG. 51 is a cross section schematic block diagram of another example of a touch screen display 250 having a thick protective transparent layer 252. This embodiment is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 43 with the exception that this embodiment includes a single sensor layer 255. The sensor layer 255 may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the sensor layer 255 includes a plurality of capacitor sensors. As another example, the sensor layer includes a voltage applied to the corners of the layer to detect touches (i.e., surface capacitance touch sensor).

FIG. 52 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a large touch screen display 270 with an on-screen control panel area 274, a display data area 272, and touch sense circuitry 276. The display 270 has properties in accordance with the table of paragraph 107 and has a variety of applications. For example, the large touch screen display 270 is utilized as a touch screen white board. As another example, the large touch screen display is used as a menu for selecting a variety of service options and/or shopping options at a service center (e.g., a store, a mall, etc.).

The control panel area 274 is a virtual control panel and may be located anywhere on the display 270. When the control panel is active, it appears in the control panel area 274 and provides for a variety of control functions, which include, but are not limited to, store, change colors, change an application, start, stop, pause, fast-forward, highlight, etc. When the control panel is not active, the control panel area 274 becomes part of the display area.

The display data area 272 displays frames of data. The frames of data include frames of a video, independent frames of images, jump from one image to another, white board drawings, each edit creates a new frame, time interval of data capture on white board for a frame of data, have a background for white board, etc.

The touch screen circuitry 276 is physically positioned in the bezel area of the display 270 (i.e., in the frame). The touch screen circuitry 276, it’s physically positioned in the bezel area of the display, are as previously discussed with reference to one or more of FIGS. 36-42 .

FIG. 53 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a large touch screen display 270 with an on-screen control panel area 274, the display data area 272, the touch screen circuitry 276, a first plurality of electrodes 277, and a second plurality of electrodes 278. The electrodes 277 are arranged in a first orientation (e.g., as columns) throughout the display 270 and electrodes 278 are arranged in a second orientation (e.g., as rows) throughout the display 270.

The touch sense circuitry 276 includes first drive sense circuits, second drive sense circuits, and a processing module. The first drive-sense circuits provide a first sensor signals to the first electrodes 277 and generate therefrom first sensed signals. The second drive-sense circuits provide second sensor signals to the second electrodes 278 and generate therefrom second sensed signals. The processing module receives the first and second sensed signals to determine one or more touches of the display 270.

In a control mode (e.g., the control panel area is activated), the processing module creates display data and control panel data and produce, therefrom, a frame of data. The display data is created to be displayed in the display data area 272 and the control panel data is to be simultaneously displayed in the control panel area 274. The processing module associates a first group of row and column electrodes with the control panel data area. The processing module interprets receive signals components of the sensors signals of the control panel electrodes to identify a proximal touch of the control panel data area and executed a corresponding function and/or command.

The processing module associates a second group of column and row electrodes with the display data area. The processing module interprets receive signals components of the sensors signals of the second group of electrodes to identify a proximal touch within the display data area. Note that the rendering of data in the display data area, rendering of data in the control panel area, sensing a touch in the display data area, sensing a touch in the control panel area, executing a command and/or function associated with a touch in the display data area, and/or executing a control function associated with a touch in the control panel area are done currently. As such, there is not alternating operation between sensing a touch and displaying data.

FIG. 54 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a plurality of electrodes creating a plurality of touch sense cells 280 within a display. In this embodiment, a few second electrodes 278 are perpendicular and on a different layer of the display than a few of the first electrodes 277. For each crossing of a first electrode and a second electrode, a touch sense cell 280 is created. At each touch sense cell 280, a mutual capacitance (C_(m_0)) is created between the crossing electrodes. Each electrode also includes a self-capacitance (C_(p)), which is shown as a single parasitic capacitance, but, in some instances, is a distributed R-C circuit.

A drive sense circuit (DSC) is coupled to a corresponding one of the electrodes. The drive sense circuits (DSC) provides sensor signals to the electrodes and determines the loading on the sensors signals of the electrodes. When no touch is present, each touch cell 280 will have a similar mutual capacitance and each electrode of a similar length will have a similar self-capacitance. When a touch is applied on or near a touch sense cell 280, the mutual capacitance of the cell will decrease (creating an increased impedance) and the self-capacitances of the electrodes creating the touch sense cell will increase (creating a decreased impedance). Between these impedance changes, the processing module can detect the location of a touch, or touches.

FIG. 55 is a similar diagram to FIG. 54 with the exceptions that some of the first and second electrodes are within the control panel area 274, others electrodes are in the display data area 272, there is a touch 282 in the display data area, and there is a touch 283 in the control panel area. In this example, the touches are determined by the decreased mutual capacitance of the nearby touch sense cells and by the increased self-capacitance of the effect electrodes. The processing module, knowing which electrodes and hence which touch sense cells are part of the control panel area 274, can readily determine that touch 283 is in the control panel area and that touch 282 is in the display data area 272.

FIG. 56 is a schematic block diagram of an example of activating or deactivating an on-screen control panel on a large touch screen display 270. As in FIG. 52 , the display 270 includes the display data area 272, the control panel area 274, and the touch sense circuitry 276. In this example, a touch sequence and/or a touch pattern 286 within the control panel area 274 is used to activate and/or deactivate the control panel. As a specific example, a three-finger touch making an X or a plus sign is the pattern to activate and/or deactivate the control panel. As another specific example, four consecutive touches in the same position on the display is a sequence to activate and/or deactivate the control panel. In an alternate embodiment, any area of the display is useable to activate and/or deactivate the control panel.

FIG. 57 is a logic diagram of an example of utilizing an on-screen control panel of a large touch screen display that is executable by a processing module (e.g., 42 and/or 82). The method begins at step 190 where the processing module determines whether the display 270 is in a control mode (e.g., the control panel is enabled and is visible within the control panel area). If not, the method continues at step 304 where the processing module determines whether a unique touch pattern and/or sequence is detected on the display. If not, the method repeats at step 290.

If the unique touch pattern and/or sequence is detected, the method continues at step 306 where the processing module enters the control mode. In the control mode, the method continues at step 292 where the processing module generates display data and control data. The method continues at step 294 where the processing module generates one or more frames of data from the display data and the control data.

The method continues at step 296 where the processing module associates electrodes with the display data area and the control panel area. The method continues at step 298 where the processing module interprets signals form drive sense circuits coupled to the electrodes that are associated with the control panel area. When a touch is detected in the control panel area, the processing module processes it as a control function or command. When a touch is detected in the display data area, the processing module processes it as a data function or command. For example, the control panel area functions like a mouse or touch pad.

The method continues at step 300 where the processing module determines whether a touch pattern and/or sequence is detected to exit the control mode. If not, the method repeats at step 292. If an exit pattern and/or sequence is detected, the method continues at step 302 where the processing module exits the control mode. When not in the control mode, the entire display is treated as part of the display data area.

FIG. 58 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a scalable touch screen display that includes a touch screen 316 and a plurality of sense-processing circuits 310. A sense-processing circuit 310 includes a plurality of sensing modules 312 and a processing core 314. The touch screen 316 includes a plurality of electrodes (e.g., rows and columns) that are in-cell and/or on-cell with a display.

The sensing modules 312 of each of the sense-processing circuits 310 is coupled to an electrode, or sensor, of the touch screen 316. The processing cores 314 are coupled together via a wired and/or wireless communication bus. Specific embodiments of the sensing modules and the processing cores will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 59 .

A sense-processing circuit 310 includes a number of sensing modules 312 (e.g., from less than 100 to more than 1,000). Each sense-processing circuit 310 is identical, thus making scaling for large scale touch screen displays commercially viable. For instance, a sense-processing circuit 310 is implemented on a die. An integrated circuit (IC) includes one or more of the sense-processing circuit dies. As such, one or more ICs with one or more dies can be used to provide the touch sense circuitry of a display.

FIG. 59 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a sense-processing circuit 310 that includes a drive sense circuit 28 as a sensing module 312 and a sense process unit 314 implemented within the processing core 314. The processing core 314 includes a processing module, memory, and a communication interface. The communication interface allows the processing core to communicate with other processing cores and/or with processing modules (e.g., 42) of the display and/or of a computing device. For example, the communication interface is one of a PCI connection, a USB connection, a Bluetooth connection, etc.

The drive sense circuit 28 includes a power source circuit 340 and a power signal change detection circuit 342. The power source circuit 340 is operably coupled to the electrode 350 and, when enabled (e.g., from a control signal from the processing core, power is applied, a switch is closed, a reference signal is received, etc.) provides a signal 344 to the electrode 350. The power source circuit 340 may be a voltage supply circuit (e.g., a battery, a linear regulator, an unregulated DC-to-DC converter, etc.) to produce a voltage-based power signal, a current supply circuit (e.g., a current source circuit, a current mirror circuit, etc.) to produce a current-based power signal, or a circuit that provide a desired power level to the sensor and substantially matches impedance of the sensor. The power source circuit 340 generates the signal 344 to include a DC (direct current) component and/or an oscillating component.

When receiving the signal 344, the impedance of the electrode affects 346 the signal. When the power signal change detection circuit 342 is enabled, it detects the impedance effect 346 on the signal. For example, the signal is a 1.5 voltage signal and, when there is no touch, the electrode draws 1 micro-amp of current, which corresponds to an impedance of 1.5 M Ohms. When a touch is present, the signal remains at 1.5 volts and the current increases to 1.5 micro-amps. As such, the impedance of the electrode changed from 1.5 M Ohms to 1 M Ohms. The power signal change detection circuit 112 determines this change and generates a representative signal 348 of the change to the power signal.

The processing core 314 is configured to include, for each sense process unit 374, a first filter 352, a second filter 354, a third filter 356, a first change detector 358, a second change detector 360, a third change detector 362, and a touch interpreter 370. The first filter 352 is operable to produce a first filtered signal of the signal 348 representation corresponding to self-capacitance of the sensed electrode. The second filter 354 produces a second filtered signal of the signal 348 representation corresponding to mutual capacitance of the sensed electrode. The third filter produces a third filtered signal of the signal 348 representation corresponding to a pen touch of the sensed electrode.

The first change detector 358 determines whether the self-capacitance of the sensed electrode has changed to produce a first change 364. The second change detector 360 determines whether the mutual-capacitance of the sensed electrode has changed to produce a second change 366. The third change detector 362 determines whether the pen-capacitance of the sensed electrode has changed to produce a third change 368.

The touch interpreter 372 determines whether the sensed electrode is experiences a touch based on the first, second, and or third changes. For example, if the touch interpreter 372 determines that the self-capacitance of the sensed electrode has increased, the touch interpreter 372 indicates that the sensed electrode is effected by a touch (e.g., a finger touch). As another example, if the touch interpreter 372 determines that the mutual-capacitance of the sensed electrode has decreased, the touch interpreter 372 indicates that the sensed electrode is effected by a touch (e.g., a finger touch). As yet another example, if the touch interpreter 372 determines that the pen-capacitance of the sensed electrode has increased, the touch interpreter 372 indicates that the sensed electrode is effected by a pen touch.

The other drive-sense circuits 28 in combination with the other sense processing units 374 function as described above for their respective electrodes. The processing core 314 provides the touch information 372 to a processing module, to another sense-processing circuit 310, and/or to itself for further processing to equate the touch information to a particular location on the display and meaning of the touch.

FIG. 60 is a schematic block diagram of an example of frequency dividing for reference signals for drive-sense circuits 28 of a touch screen display. In this example, a few row electrodes and a few column electrodes are shown. Each electrode is coupled to a drive sense circuit (DSC) 28. The crossover of a row electrode with a column electrode creates a sense cell. In this example, there are nine row electrodes and nine column electrodes, creating 81 sense cells. To allow for simultaneous self-capacitance sensing and mutual sensing of the electrodes, the drive sense circuits use different frequencies to simulate the electrodes.

For self-capacitance, all of the drive sense circuits use the f1 frequency component. This creates near zero potential difference between the electrodes, thereby eliminating cross coupling between the electrodes. In this manner, the self-capacitance measurements made by the drive sense circuits are effectively shielded (i.e., low noise, yielding a high signal to noise ratio).

For mutual capacitance, the column electrodes also transmit a frequency component at another frequency. For example, the first column DSC 28 transmits it signal with frequency components at f1 and at f10; the second column DSC 28 transmits it signal with frequency components at f1 and at f11; the third column DSC 28 transmits it signal with frequency components at f1 and at f12; and so on. The additional frequency components (f10-f18) allow the row DSCs 28 to determine mutual capacitance at the sense cells.

For example, the first row DSC 28 senses its self-capacitance via its transmitted signal with the f1 frequency component and determines the mutual capacitance of the sense cells 1-10, 1-11, 1-12, 1-13, 1-14, 1-15, 1-16, 1-17, and 1-18. As a specific example, for sense cell 1-10, the first row DSC 28 determines the mutual capacitance between the first row electrode and the first column electrode based on the frequency f10; determines the mutual capacitance between the first row electrode and the second column electrode based on the frequency f11; determines the mutual capacitance between the first row electrode and the third column electrode based on the frequency f12; and so on.

FIG. 61 is a schematic block diagram of an example of bandpass filtering for the frequency dividing of the reference signals for drive-sense circuits affiliated with the row electrodes of FIG. 60 . In this example, the filtering in the sense process unit 374 of the processing core 314 affiliated with the row drive sense circuits has bandpass filters to detect signals at f1, f10-f18, and f20 384 (f1 for self-capacitance, f10-f18 for mutual capacitance, and f20 for a pen transmit signal).

As shown, frequency f1 corresponds to the self-capacitance 380 of the row electrodes and frequencies f10-f18 correspond to mutual capacitance 382 of the row electrodes and their corresponding intersecting column electrodes. With concurrent sensing of self-capacitance and mutual capacitance, multiple touches are detectable with a high degree of accuracy.

FIG. 62 is a schematic block diagram of another example of bandpass filtering for the frequency dividing of the reference signals for drive-sense circuits affiliated with the column electrodes of FIG. 60 . In this example, the filtering in the sense process unit 374 of the processing core 314 affiliated with the drive sense circuits has bandpass filters to detect signals at f1-f9, f10, and f20 384 (for a pen transmit signal).

As shown, frequency f1 corresponds to the shielded self-capacitance 380 of the column electrodes and frequencies f10-f18 correspond to unshielded self-capacitance 381 of the column electrodes. With concurrent sensing of self-capacitance and mutual capacitance, multiple touches are detectable with a high degree of accuracy. Note that there are a variety of combinations for sensing and filtering based on FIGS. 60-62 . For example, only self-capacitance of the electrodes could be used to detect location of touches. As another example, the column DCSs could sense and processing the mutual capacitance. As another example, the unshielded self-capacitance is processed to determine levels of interference between the electrodes.

FIG. 63 is a schematic block diagram of an example of frequency and time dividing for reference signals for drive-sense circuits 28 of a touch screen display. In this example, a few row electrodes and a few column electrodes are shown. Each electrode is coupled to a drive sense circuit (DSC) 28. The crossover of a row electrode with a column electrode creates a sense cell. In this example, there are nine row electrodes and nine column electrodes, creating 81 sense cells. To allow for time-frequency division self-capacitance sensing and mutual sensing of the electrodes, the drive sense circuits affiliated with column electrodes use the same frequency f1 for self-capacitance and use a set of different frequencies (f10-f13) at different times (time 1, time 2) for mutual capacitance. The drive sense circuits affiliated with row electrodes use the same frequency (f1) for each of the different times.

FIGS. 64A and 64B are a schematic block diagram of an example of frequency and time dividing for reference signals for drive-sense circuits (DSCs) 28 of a touch screen display. In this example, a few row electrodes and a few column electrodes are shown. Each electrode is coupled to a drive sense circuit (DSC) 28. The crossover of a row electrode with a column electrode creates a sense cell. In this example, there are nine row electrodes and nine column electrodes, creating 81 sense cells. To allow for time-frequency division self-capacitance sensing and mutual sensing of the electrodes, the drive sense circuits are grouped. Each group uses the same frequency f1 for self-capacitance and uses a set of frequencies f10-f13 for mutual capacitance but at different times.

For example, during time 1-1, the drive sense circuits affiliated with the first four row electrodes 1-4 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and drive sense circuits affiliated with the first four column electrodes 1-4 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and frequencies f10 - f13 for mutual capacitance. As another example, during time 1-2, the drive sense circuits affiliated with the first four row electrodes 1-4 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and the drive sense circuits affiliated with the second four column electrodes 5-8 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and frequencies f5 - f8 mutual capacitance.

Continuing with the example in FIG. 64B, during time 2-1, the drive sense circuits affiliated with the second four row electrodes 1-4 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and drive sense circuits affiliated with the second four column electrodes 5-8 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and frequencies f10 - f13 for mutual capacitance. As another example, during time 2-2, the drive sense circuits affiliated with the second four row electrodes 5-8 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and the drive sense circuits affiliated with the second four column electrodes 5-8 use frequency f1 for self-capacitance and frequencies f5 - f8 mutual capacitance.

It is noted that terminologies as may be used herein such as bit stream, stream, signal sequence, etc. (or their equivalents) have been used interchangeably to describe digital information whose content corresponds to any of a number of desired types (e.g., data, video, speech, text, graphics, audio, etc. any of which may generally be referred to as ‘data’).

As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately” provide an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. For some industries, an industry-accepted tolerance is less than one percent and, for other industries, the industry-accepted tolerance is 10 percent or more. Other examples of industry-accepted tolerance range from less than one percent to fifty percent. Industry-accepted tolerances correspond to, but are not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, thermal noise, dimensions, signaling errors, dropped packets, temperatures, pressures, material compositions, and/or performance metrics. Within an industry, tolerance variances of accepted tolerances may be more or less than a percentage level (e.g., dimension tolerance of less than +/- 1%). Some relativity between items may range from a difference of less than a percentage level to a few percent. Other relativity between items may range from a difference of a few percent to magnitude of differences.

As may also be used herein, the term(s) “configured to”, “operably coupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for an example of indirect coupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”.

As may even further be used herein, the term “configured to”, “operable to”, “coupled to”, or “operably coupled to” indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform, when activated, one or more its corresponding functions and may further include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term “associated with”, includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within another item.

As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1. As may be used herein, the term “compares unfavorably”, indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., fails to provide the desired relationship.

As may be used herein, one or more claims may include, in a specific form of this generic form, the phrase “at least one of a, b, and c” or of this generic form “at least one of a, b, or c”, with more or less elements than “a”, “b”, and “c”. In either phrasing, the phrases are to be interpreted identically. In particular, “at least one of a, b, and c” is equivalent to “at least one of a, b, or c” and shall mean a, b, and/or c. As an example, it means: “a” only, “b” only, “c” only, “a” and “b”, “a” and “c”, “b” and “c”, and/or “a”, “b”, and “c”.

As may also be used herein, the terms “processing module”, “processing circuit”, “processor”, “processing circuitry”, and/or “processing unit” may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module, module, processing circuit, processing circuitry, and/or processing unit may be, or further include, memory and/or an integrated memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of another processing module, module, processing circuit, processing circuitry, and/or processing unit. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, processing circuitry, and/or processing unit includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, processing circuitry and/or processing unit implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element may store, and the processing module, module, processing circuit, processing circuitry and/or processing unit executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in one or more of the Figures. Such a memory device or memory element can be included in an article of manufacture.

One or more embodiments have been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claims. Further, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality.

To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claims. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

In addition, a flow diagram may include a “start” and/or “continue” indication. The “start” and “continue” indications reflect that the steps presented can optionally be incorporated in or otherwise used in conjunction with one or more other routines. In addition, a flow diagram may include an “end” and/or “continue” indication. The “end” and/or “continue” indications reflect that the steps presented can end as described and shown or optionally be incorporated in or otherwise used in conjunction with one or more other routines. In this context, “start” indicates the beginning of the first step presented and may be preceded by other activities not specifically shown. Further, the “continue” indication reflects that the steps presented may be performed multiple times and/or may be succeeded by other activities not specifically shown. Further, while a flow diagram indicates a particular ordering of steps, other orderings are likewise possible provided that the principles of causality are maintained.

The one or more embodiments are used herein to illustrate one or more aspects, one or more features, one or more concepts, and/or one or more examples. A physical embodiment of an apparatus, an article of manufacture, a machine, and/or of a process may include one or more of the aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with reference to one or more of the embodiments discussed herein. Further, from figure to figure, the embodiments may incorporate the same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. that may use the same or different reference numbers and, as such, the functions, steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps, modules, etc. or different ones.

While the transistors in the above described figure(s) is/are shown as field effect transistors (FETs), as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the transistors may be implemented using any type of transistor structure including, but not limited to, bipolar, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET), N-well transistors, P-well transistors, enhancement mode, depletion mode, and zero voltage threshold (VT) transistors.

Unless specifically stated to the contra, signals to, from, and/or between elements in a figure of any of the figures presented herein may be analog or digital, continuous time or discrete time, and single-ended or differential. For instance, if a signal path is shown as a single-ended path, it also represents a differential signal path. Similarly, if a signal path is shown as a differential path, it also represents a single-ended signal path. While one or more particular architectures are described herein, other architectures can likewise be implemented that use one or more data buses not expressly shown, direct connectivity between elements, and/or indirect coupling between other elements as recognized by one of average skill in the art.

The term “module” is used in the description of one or more of the embodiments. A module implements one or more functions via a device such as a processor or other processing device or other hardware that may include or operate in association with a memory that stores operational instructions. A module may operate independently and/or in conjunction with software and/or firmware. As also used herein, a module may contain one or more sub-modules, each of which may be one or more modules.

As may further be used herein, a computer readable memory includes one or more memory elements. A memory element may be a separate memory device, multiple memory devices, or a set of memory locations within a memory device. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. The memory device may be in a form a solid-state memory, a hard drive memory, cloud memory, thumb drive, server memory, computing device memory, and/or other physical medium for storing digital information.

While particular combinations of various functions and features of the one or more embodiments have been expressly described herein, other combinations of these features and functions are likewise possible. The present disclosure is not limited by the particular examples disclosed herein and expressly incorporates these other combinations. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A variable touch screen that is customizable in size and orientation, the variable touch screen comprising: a first touch screen display, wherein the first touch screen display includes: a first plurality of electrodes; and first touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the first plurality of electrodes, wherein the first touch screen circuity includes a plurality of drive-sense circuits that, when enabled, are configured to: drive a plurality of sensor signals onto the plurality of electrodes; sense first effects that the plurality of electrodes have on the plurality of sensor signals; and produce a first plurality of sensed signals based on the first effects; and a second touch screen display, wherein a first edge of the first touch screen display, when oriented such that the first edge is aligned adjacent to a first edge of the second touch screen display, increases a size of the variable touch screen, and wherein the second touch screen display includes: a second plurality of electrodes; and second touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the second plurality of electrodes, wherein the second touch screen circuity includes a second plurality of drive-sense circuits that, when enabled, are configured to: drive a second plurality of sensor signals onto the second plurality of electrodes; sense second effects that the second plurality of electrodes have on the second plurality of sensor signals; and produce a second plurality of sensed signals based on the second effects.
 2. The variable touch screen of claim 1, wherein one or more of the first and second touch screen displays includes a centralized processing module that, when enabled, is configured to: process the first plurality of sensed signals to determine a touch event on the first touch screen display; and process the second plurality of sensed signals to determine a second touch event on the second touch screen display.
 3. The variable touch screen of claim 2, wherein the centralized processing module is configured to determine that one or more of the first touch event and second touch event indicates one or more of: a location of one or more touches; and a meaning of the one or more touches.
 4. The variable touch screen of claim 2, wherein the centralized processing module is implemented by a processing module of one of the first touch screen circuitry or the second touch screen circuitry.
 5. The variable touch screen of claim 2, wherein the centralized processing module is implemented by processing modules of the first and second touch screen circuitries, and wherein the centralized processing module functions as a distributed processing module.
 6. The variable touch screen of claim 1 further comprises: a third touch screen display, wherein a second edge of the third touch screen display, when oriented such that the second edge is adjacent to a second edge of the first touch screen display, increases the size of the variable touch screen, and wherein the third touch screen display includes: a third plurality of electrodes; and third touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the third plurality of electrodes, wherein the third touch screen circuity includes a third plurality of drive-sense circuits that, when enabled, are configured to: drive a third plurality of sensor signals onto the third plurality of electrodes; sense third effects that the third plurality of electrodes have on the third plurality of sensor signals; and produce a third plurality of sensed signals based on the third effects.
 7. The variable touch screen of claim 6, wherein one or more of the first, second, and third touch screen displays includes a centralized processing module that, when enabled, is configured to: process the first plurality of sensed signals to determine a touch event on the first touch screen display; and process the second plurality of sensed signals to determine a second touch event on the second touch screen display; and process the third plurality of sensed signals to determine a third touch event on the third touch screen display.
 8. The variable touch screen of claim 6 further comprises: a fourth touch screen display, wherein a first edge of the fourth touch screen display, when oriented such that the first edge is adjacent to a first edge of the third touch screen display, increases the size of the variable touch screen, and wherein the fourth touch screen display includes: a fourth plurality of electrodes; and fourth touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the fourth plurality of electrodes, wherein the fourth touch screen circuity includes a fourth plurality of drive-sense circuits when enabled, are configured to: drive a fourth plurality of sensor signals onto the fourth plurality of electrodes; sense fourth effects that the fourth plurality of electrodes have on the fourth plurality of sensor signals; and produce a fourth plurality of sensed signals based on the fourth effects.
 9. The variable touch screen of claim 8, wherein a second edge of the fourth touch screen display is adjacent to a second edge of the second touch screen display.
 10. The variable touch screen of claim 8, wherein the centralized processing module is operably coupled to each of the first, second, third and fourth touch screen circuitry and configured to process the each of the first, second, third and fourth plurality of sensed signals to determine touch events.
 11. The variable touch screen of claim 1, wherein the first edge of the first touch screen display is bezel-less and one or more other edges of the first touch screen display includes a near bezel-less frame.
 12. The variable touch screen of claim 11, wherein the first touch screen circuitry is housed in the near bezel-less frame.
 13. The variable touch screen of claim 12, wherein the first edge of the second touch screen display is bezel-less and one or more other second edges of the second touch screen display includes a second near bezel-less frame.
 14. The variable touch screen of claim 11, wherein the second touch screen circuitry is housed in the second near bezel-less frame.
 15. The variable touch screen of claim 1, wherein the first touch screen circuitry and the second touch screen circuity are coupled together via one or more of: a wired connection; and a wireless connection.
 16. A touch screen comprising: a first touch screen display, wherein the first touch screen display includes: a first plurality of electrodes aligned in a first orientation; and a second plurality of electrodes aligned in a second orientation, wherein the first and second orientations cause at least a first subset of the first plurality of electrodes to overlap at least a second subset of the second plurality of electrodes; first touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the first plurality of electrodes and the second plurality of electrodes, wherein the first touch screen circuity includes a plurality of drive-sense circuits that, when enabled, are configured to: drive a plurality of sensor signals onto the first and second plurality of electrodes; sense first effects that the plurality of electrodes have on the first and second plurality of sensor signals; and produce a first plurality of sensed signals based on the first effects; and a second touch screen display, wherein a first edge of the first touch screen display is positioned adjacent to a first edge of the second touch screen display, and wherein the second touch screen display includes: a third plurality of electrodes aligned in the third orientation; and a fourth plurality of electrodes aligned in a fourth orientation, wherein the third and fourth orientations cause at least a third subset of the third plurality of electrodes to overlap at least a fourth subset of the fourth plurality of electrodes, and wherein the third orientation substantially aligns with the first orientation; and second touch screen circuitry operably coupled to the third and fourth plurality of electrodes, wherein the second touch screen circuity includes a second plurality of drive-sense circuits that, when enabled, are configured to: drive a second plurality of sensor signals onto the third and fourth plurality of electrodes; sense second effects that the third and fourth plurality of electrodes have on the second plurality of sensor signals; and produce a second plurality of sensed signals based on the second effects.
 17. The touch screen of claim 16, wherein the first edge of the first touch screen display is bezel-less and one or more other edges of the first touch screen display includes a near bezel-less frame.
 18. The touch screen of claim 17, wherein the first touch screen circuitry is housed in the near bezel-less frame.
 19. The touch screen of claim 18, wherein the first edge of the second touch screen display is bezel-less and one or more other second edges of the second touch screen display includes a second near bezel-less frame.
 20. The touch screen of claim 16, wherein the first touch screen circuitry and the second touch screen circuity are coupled together and to a centralized processing module of the apparatus via one or more of: a wired connection; and a wireless connection. 